


Truth Or Die

by mediocre_writer921



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Horror, Tragedy, Truth or Dare, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26738023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mediocre_writer921/pseuds/mediocre_writer921
Summary: It's the year 1978, the year where Garfield comics first debuted in American newspapers, the movie Grease came into the world and Reese's Pieces first popped into candy aisles! Not only that, but it was the year full of mystery.An Everlock University student named Joey Graceffa decides to rent a house for a Halloween outing, curious as to what lies inside. For he heard the house was haunted, after a group of ten people the same age as he was, played an innocent game of Truth or Dare.All but one died that night. Joey didn't believe it, but wanted to see what was up anyway. So he invited nine of his closest friends to the Halloween party they won't ever forget. Of course, he didn't tell them it was haunted.Mainly because no one would've come if they did. Everlock was a small little town, known for its many secrets and horrific history. They wouldn't have come because they've seen enough haunted houses in their teen years. Ghosts, spirits and the paranormal used to be fun, but now terrified them all.A game of Truth or Dare starts and the spirit awakens.Once awakened, they only have forty-eight hours to complete the game of Truth or Dare.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 17





	1. The Unsolved Case of 1978

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Truth Or Die, a short-story to celebrate the wonderful holiday of Halloween! COVID may have changed our plans for Halloween, but it will not ruin it. Not on my watch at least. So I planned this little mini-series, Truth Or Die.
> 
> It's my first time doing horror, so... we'll see how this turns out. Enjoy :)

**Saturday, October 1st, 1988**

**5:30 pm**

~~~

** _The Everlock Forum_ **

_**Everlock, California, November 2nd, 1978** _

_**Written by Mortimer Wilson** _

**9 EVERLOCK UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FOUND DEAD IN 48 HOURS! COINCIDENCE OR MASS SUICIDE?**

_A series of mysterious deaths occurred throughout the course of 24 hours, starting on the evening of Halloween, where the first body was found. Their name was-_

Eva Gutowski kept reading the article, frowning. This case was nearly a decade old, yet it didn't make sense at all. Mass suicide? It seemed unlikely, considering that there were so many different kinds of deaths and different times and even different locations. She pursed her lips, reading it again. Then noticed a few people died in the same location. 

_They were found at 39 Gallow's Hill._

_39 Gallow's Hill. Why did that address sound familiar?_

Eva furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought. She folded the newspaper and put it in the pocket of her jeans. She slurped on her slurpee, trying to jog her memory. She could've sworn that she heard that address before. Or at least seen it somewhere.

But where? 

Unlike most people who lived in Everlock, Eva wasn't born and raised here. In fact, she had only moved here a few years ago, drawn by its mystery and strange history. She's unraveled many cases that had been previously been unsolved. It was a specialty of hers, you could say. And her latest one was this one. 

Where 9 people had died, with no explanation on the days of October 31st, November 1st and November 2nd, 1978. All of them had been about 19-21. So young, with their lives barely beginning. But their Thread of Life was cut short by a tragic event long forgotten by the town. Apparently even the Mayor thought it was all just attention seeking suicide. But that didn't seem to be the case.

That didn't seem to be the case at all .

Tossing the finished slurpee into a trash can, shuddering at how cold it was, suddenly regretting that she finished it so fast. Only then did Eva get an idea of where she should find her answers. 

~~~

Eva pulled an unoccupied chair back, spinning around for a moment before getting into business. Currently, the dark-haired girl was in the library, borrowing a computer for some very important research. No seriously, it was important, it wasn't some crack case she was trying to solve. 

She would go to her own office to use her own computer, but alas, it was not in walking distance and Eva didn't feel like driving today. So she came to the place that was always handy, but everyone hated: the library. 

Typing in 39 Gallow's Hill, Everlock, California and digging for what seemed like an eternity, Andrea found an image of the house and gasped at her discovery. 

"Could it be?" she murmured. 

_ **The Mysterious Case of 39 Gallow's Hill** _

The article said that this happened in 1890.

Far earlier than the year 1978, as far away as that year sounded. Andrea had heard the story of what happened, but it was brushed off as a myth, a tall tale. Now that the same thing happened again 10 years ago, she doesn't think of it as a myth. 

What had happened was that a group of ten friends had gathered for a Halloween outing in that very house. They played a game of Truth or Dare. All but one died. 

At the bottom of the article, it said the name of the survivor was Andrea Russett. 

"The survivor's probably already dead," Eva grumbled. "This happened nearly a hundred years ago, nobody makes it to 120." 

Eva banged her head on the desk, frustrated. Then remembered that there should've been another survivor of she was correct. One that was _much_ younger.

Probably in their 30s. Eva took the newspaper from her pocket again and found the one person that wasn't dead.

_ Joey Graceffa _

"Isn't Lele Joey's neighbor?" Eva asked to herself, having no idea what the hell was going on with this case.

No wonder it was left unsolved, but Andrea cracked it open again.

What? It made for a good article. Can you blame her?

"I feel like Sherlock Holmes, but I'm American," Eva mumbled, off to find Lele and interrogate her.

~~~

Joey moved away. Ten years ago. After the incident. Where, Lele didn't know. And all of Joey's friends were dead so they couldn't tell her either. And Joey had no family here. So literally not a single soul in this stupid town could tell her where he was so she could break into his house and snoop- I mean, politely knock on his front door and ask him about what happened. Lele claimed that Joey told no one where he moved to.

Seemed spooked and looked extremely guilty, she recalled. The journalist was surprised her co-worker remembered it so much. The blonde had claimed she only remembered because she felt bad for him. All of his friends were dead, he had no one left. Had locked himself in his apartment for weeks before moving, never leaving. It was he was a ghost haunting his own home. 

Then one night, disappeared. Packed the whole apartment. Lele assumed he only stayed so long to finish his lease. And that was all she could tell the journalist.

"Well damnit, Lele," Eva groaned, left at another dead end. "What am I supposed to do now?" 

She looked at the newspaper, desperate to find something, anything. Then she got a bizarre thought. What if people the victims' knew still lived here? Would Joey have told them what happened?

Surely he would've... right? Or would he have lied? 

"Time to find out if anybody here could have possibly known what happened that night on October 31st, 1978," Eva said, cracking her knuckles. 

~~~

**Sunday, October 2nd, 1988**

**8:45 am**

~~~

Eva hoped she was at the right address. "24 Haemon Drive. This sounds right," Eva pondered, shutting the door to her station wagon, looking up and down the street, the houses a little familiar, for she had passed by them a few times prior to this visit. But never has she been inside one of these houses.

A narrow road bordered on each side by a terrace of small houses. They were identical, with their small upper windows, narrow porches and square bays, but it was obvious that the road was coming up in the world. Some few still showed the tell-tale signs of multiple occupation: dishevelled lawns, peeling paint and drawn secretive curtains. But these were succeeded by bright little bandboxes of social aspiration: newly painted doors, carriage lamps, an occasional hanging basket, the front garden paved to provide standing for the car.

Putting her hands in her pocket, Eva put her hand in her coral blazer's pocket, where the newspaper article was safely tucked in there. With her other hand, the journalist clutched onto her bag, nervous. Going up the porch steps, she nervously tapped on the door, praying that someone answered and that it was the right address. 

A short woman with dark brown hair and eyes opened the door, appearing somewhat annoyed. She appeared to be in her late twenties and Eva noticed the piercing in her nose. She appeared to have just woken up, still being in pajamas, clutching a stuffed elephant. "Can I help you?" she asked, leaning on the doorway.

"You're Miss Chelsey Amaro, correct?" 

Chelsey nodded slowly, wondering where this was going. "Yes...why?"

"Well, Miss Amaro, I'm Eva Gutowski, journalist from 'The Everlock Forum'. I was wondering if I could ask a few questions about a certain event that happened a while back." 

She gave her a puzzled look. "I haven't committed a crime that I'm unaware of, have I?" she inquired dryly, not in the mood to be questioned by a journalist at 8 in the morning. "I haven't witnessed anything interesting recently either." 

Eva cleared her throat awkwardly and pulled out the little newspaper article, unfolding it and showing it to Chelsey. "Miss Amaro, I was made aware that your boyfriend was one of the victims of the chain of deaths in 1978. Police had deemed it as a suicide, but I disagree and must get the truth out to prevent something like this from ever happening again. I was wondering if you know anything?" 

The woman went from annoyed to sad to angry in merely a few seconds as she was asked this questions. The journalist saw tears well up in her eyes and her mouth hung open as if to say something, but was unable to. Chelsey held the elephant closer to her. Then she slammed the door in Eva's face.

She knocked again, yelling, "Miss Amaro, please hear me out! I know it's a sensitive topic, but-"

"Leave!" she thundered, refusing to reopen the door.

"But Miss-"

"Leave! Or I'm calling the cops!"

Eva's shoulder sagged and she sighed. Getting arrested wasn't the ideal way to solve this stupid case.

_Well that went well._

"Snooping around for clues about that 1978 case, Gutowski?" a male voice questioned and Eva spun around, finding an Asian-looking man dressed in black from head to toe, sitting casually on the hood of his Ford Fiesta. Next to him was a bouquet of lilies.

She crossed her arms and answered in an accusing voice, "You were listening the whole time? How long have you been there, Officer Williams?"

He shrugged and looked at his watch. "Not long. And please, call me Tyler. If you were to ask anybody about the case that was affected by it, Chelsey would be the last person you would want to ask. At this point, she's only willing to live for Jc. Basically a hippie at this point. Oh, and probably Mike. He doesn't like to talk about it. Nor is he ever in town. Does business all around the globe."

"Lamond?" He nodded and got off the trunk of his car. "Rosanna Pansino's boyfriend before her unfortunate passing."

Eva felt like an outsider again and merely said, "Oh."

"You could've asked me you know. I don't know much, but I could've helped you out you know."

The journalist gave him a confused look, not sure how he would be of any help and he explained, "I was Safiya Nygaard's boyfriend."

Her face fell. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't-"

The officer shook his head. "It's fine. You didn't know and we hardly crossed paths, so I wouldn't have told you anyway. I know you didn't grow up here like most people so you never witnessed the aftermath. Besides, I try to accept it. To live with it and know she's in a better place and I'll see her in another world someday. Learned that nothing lasts forever. That's why everyone dies." He had a faraway look in his eyes and then cleared his throat, getting back on track. "Last time I saw her was morning of November 1st, completely spooked by what happened the night before. And then... I never saw her again."

"Do you know how she... passed away?" Eva asked carefully, not wanting a Chelsey 2.0. Tyler didn't answer and deftly switched topics. "The person you want to ask anything about this is Joey. He knows the story better than anybody here-"

"But Joey isn't here!"

He sighed, exasperated. "I know. You didn't let me finish. I was going to say that once Joey came back, he never told the full story. We just knew the basics, not the details. When he told me..." Tyler paused, taking a moment to compose himself. "When he told me that she..." He couldn't get the words out. "She..."

"She died," Eva gently finished for him. He continued on, a slight tremble in his hands. "He avoided most of my questions, like he was afraid I would get angry. Which was... weird. But everything about that damn day was off so I guess I'm assuming the worst." He let out a laugh and wiped a tear away. "Anyway, I should get to what you need, I'm wasting your time. Joey lives in Los Angeles. I have his address if you need it."

Eva tilted her head. "Why don't you just give me his phone number?"

Tyler answered simply, "I think he needs to explain it to you face-to-face, if he wants to tell you at all. He'd never talk about it on the phone. If you want answers, you have to go to him himself."

She took out a pen and notepad and handed it to the officer, who scribbled on the notepad. Handing it back, he wished her, "Good luck. You'll need it."

"Thanks for the help. You didn't have to." He waved it off and replied, "No worries. I should be going, I've got a date."

Eva raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Who's the lucky girl?"

He answered flatly as he got in his car, "She lives in the graveyard by the church."

The journalist understood as he drove away, awkwardly watching him go. Remembering the address he gave her, she looked at the writing in red ink.

_404 Geredde Street, Los Angeles_

"I should pack a bag, huh?" she asked herself, getting into her own car and turning on the engine and the radio

_"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste..."_

Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones. How fitting.

_"I've been around for a long, long year, stole many a man's soul to waste..."_

~~~

**6:00 pm**

~~~

Eva had decided to go get a drink or two before driving to LA, thinking she would need it for what was to come. Sliding into a barstool at Fatman's Slims and ordered a drink. The bartender, a dark-haired, Asian-looking woman, wearing a white button up, black pants and suspenders. A She noticed a gold chain hidden underneath the button up. "So... Miss Gutowski, trying to solve a case that has nothing to do with you and one that you should probably leave alone?" the bartender asked icily, sliding her drink across the bar. 

Eva looked at her blankly. "How did-"

"Chelsey warned me about you. And almost everyone in this town knows who you are. The name's Monette by the way." The journalist flinched, taking a swig. "She... did?" 

"Mhmm. Called me this morning. Told me to avoid you, but here you are."

She looked down at her shoes, feeling guilty. "I didn't intend to do that to you. I already found what I needed."

"I'll bet you got that from Stephanie. She's gone mad trying to figure out what happened, but hasn't found anything particularly useful." 

"Cardato? No, I didn't actually. I got it from Tyler." Monette raised an eyebrow. "Williams? Huh. I shouldn't be too surprised, but I am." 

"How come?" 

"He tried to figure it out on his own since he couldn't get anything out of Joey. Then after a while he just... gave up. Lost himself a little, but I think he's back on track. After finding that Tyler had tried to solve it, Stephanie made her attempt, but failed. They tried to work together, but the case was abandoned by both of them. Couldn't get along and work together. I guess grief does that to people." 

The journalist was confused. "Why would... why would Tyler give me Joey's new address then if he couldn't get anything out of them."

The bartender almost dropped the drink she was preparing. "He gave you Joey's address?" 

"Yeah, I was shocked too." 

Monette furrowed her eyebrows and came to this conclusion. "Maybe since you didn't live here when it happened, he thinks Joey will be more open to you since you're less emotionally attached. Hardly anyone remembers that Halloween anymore, and if they do, most don't care. A lot of things like that happen in this town. Yet there's something odd about this particular one." She sniffled and then continued, "I wish they were still here. Maybe then this town would be less unbearable." 

"Why don't you leave then?" 

She gestured around her. "I'm a bartender, Eva. I can barely afford rent, let alone move to another city. And besides..." She gave her a sad smile. "If I leave, I leave the last part I have of him behind."

Monette shook her head, trying to banish the sad memories. "Anyway, you might want to give Stephanie a visit. She might have an extra clue for you if you need it." 

"Where does she live?" 

As Monette moved to the other side of the bar she responded, "55 Rinascita. She should be home by now."

~~~

Eva got out of her station wagon, slightly tipsy. She hopes this time she won't have the person slam the door on her and threaten to call the cops. Knocking on the door, she was met with a friendly-looking brunette. "Hi! I don't believe we've met, but can I help you with anything?" 

"Hi, I'm Eva, journalist for 'The Everlock Forum'. I was wondering if I could ask you if you know anything about what happened on Halloween of 1978." Stephanie's smile fell and Eva thought she was going to shut the door, but the door widened and she invited the journalist in. 

The house was welcoming from the open door to the wide hallway. Upon the walls were the photographs of people Eva didn't recognize, but counted 5 females and 5 males. A few had Stephanie on them with a man, perhaps it was her lover. A few pictures had that same man and two girls from the group of ten, a petite brunette and a raven-haired girl who was almost as tall as he was. The floor was an old-fashioned parquet with a blend of deep homely browns and the walls were the greens of summer gardens meeting a bold white baseboard. The banister was a twirl of a branch, tamed by the carpenter's hand, it's grain flowing as water might, in waves of comforting woodland hues. Under the lamp-shine it was nature's art, something that soothed right to the soul.

Stephanie noticed Eva staring at the pictures. "Those are them." 

"The... people who died?" She nodded. "Yeah. The newspapers chose not to put pictures of them in, trying to make as little of a deal as they could. I'm not sure why. I guess it's to help people forget... but not everyone forgets something like this. Except for that blonde man right there. That's Joey." 

Eva gulped, scanning their faces. It disturbed her that they looked so alive here, but now were very, very dead. "You probably know this, but I was Matthew's fiance. Obviously, the uh... wedding never happened." Stephanie looked down at her hands, where a ring was on her left hand. 

"Those two right there, the brunette and dark-haired girl, those are Rosanna and Safiya. They were kind of like a trio, the three of them. Jokingly called the MRS Squad." She pointed to the picture of the trio. 

"Then the curly blond guy is Justin, but everyone called him Jc. The African-American girl's name was Teala. The brunette over there's Colleen. The blonde's Nikita. The guy with the make-up's Manny and finally, you have Roi." 

Eva nodded, noticing that the woman was getting increasingly glum. "You don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to."

She shook her head. "No, I can go on. I don't have much, but I do have something. Follow me." The journalist trailed into what seemed like an office. Stephanie opened a safe. "I found this knife when I snuck into the house. I couldn't run a DNA test or anything, but there was blood on it. Dried blood, but I get that it's brown now." 

Eva inspected it. "You think that one of them was murdered with this knife?" 

"Yes. I would recommend you run a test on it. I also found this a gun. With no bullet. Which suggests one of them could've gotten shot. Found it near a game of Russian Roulette." 

Eva took it. "You've kept it for all this time?" 

Stephanie nodded. "I did snooping right after it happened, but decided to ignore it, too grief-stricken to go any further until I found out Tyler was being a nosy bastard. Hope it helps." 

"Thank you." Stephanie gave her a smile as she led the journalist down the stairs and out the door. "Hope you succeed where everyone else failed."

"I hope so. I'm going to ask Joey himself." Stephanie's smile fell. "That's a dead end, you won't suss anything out of him."

"Tyler doesn't think so." She rolled her eyes. "Tyler's a fool if he thinks Joey will tell you of all people. If he didn't tell us, he certainly won't tell you everything. I've tried for ten years, what makes him think you'll triumph?" 

Eva shrugged. "When you've got hope, you're willing to do anything, I guess." 

~~~

**Monday, October 3rd, 1988**

**4:00 am**

~~~

Eva's alarm went off at 4 am the next morning. She groaned, putting a pillow over her head. Eventually, her arm snaked out from under the blanket and she slammed the button to turn it off. Drowsily getting up, Eva went to go get ready for a trip to the City of Angels. 

Throwing on a coral oversized sweatshirt and tan acid wash jeans and some canvas shoes, Eva grabbed her travel bag and ran to the kitchen to grab a muffin and scarfed it down, running out her apartment and opening the trunk, throwing her bag in. Shutting it with a bang, she hopped into the car and began the drive to Los Angeles.

~~~

**7:05 am**

~~~

If there was one thing Joey expected, it wasn't someone banging his door at 7 in the morning. He assumed it was one of his neighbors, for who else could be needing him at 7 in the morning? He hasn't done something like commit first degree murder.

Dragging himself out of bed, he went downstairs and opened the door, groggily rubbing his eyes of sleep. There stood a brunette woman he's never seen in his entire life, standing at his front door. She jumped right into the conversation, not letting him even ask what she need. "Hi Mr. Graceffa, I'm Eva Gutowski, journalist for 'The Everlock Forum'." 

He winced at the word 'Everlock'. He wasn't liking where this was going. Joey prayed that she wasn't here for what he thought she was here for. As if knowing what he was thinking, she clarified, "I would like to ask you questions about the nine deaths that occurred on the week of Halloween. I know you're the only one who survived that situation. Mind me asking you about it?" 

Joey started shaking, the memories hitting him. "Mr. Graceffa?" Eva asked, a tone of concern in her voice. "Are you alright?" 

He didn't hear the journalist, her words felt so far away. The world felt faint and he slipped into another world, one that he hated visiting, but never ceased to surprise him with their sudden visits.

~

_"JOEY I SWEAR, IF I DIE, I'M SUING YOU FROM THE GRAVE!" Nikita screeched._

_~_

_"I can do this anymore. I'm tired of doing these stupid dares," Teala cried._

_"Well our friends are tired of being dead, but you don't see them complaining, do you?" Colleen snapped._

_~_

_Safiya looked betrayed. "How could you do this to me?" she whispered._

_~_

_"Yeah, it's true," Manny admitted and the group gasped. "You... you..." Roi pointed a shaky finger at him. "No way..."_

_~_

_"Tell Stephanie I love her. And that I'm sorry," Matt said._

_"MATT! NO!"_

_~_

_"Never again," Jc shuddered. "Now I'm going to have nightmares about this. Thanks so much."_

_~_

_"It hurts!" Rosanna cried. "Hey shh... it's okay... just get through it... c'mon Ro, you've gotta hurry," Joey soothed, panic rising._

_~_

Joey curled up into a ball, tears falling faster than he could stop them. He rocked himself back and forth, horrified. It was supposed to be an innocent little gathering. He ignored the red flags and faced the consequences. 

"Mr. Graceffa?"

Eva's voice took him out of that horrific place in his mind. Joey completely forgot she was there. Thankfully, she shut the door so no one would see him if they were passing by. "You don't have to tell me, but I think if I know the truth, it may put some people at ease. And... I think if I bring it into the light again, the town can do something about it and not let something like this happen a third time. Please, Mr. Graceffa. You don't have to tell me everything. I just want to know the truth. That's all I want."

His blue eyes met her calm brown ones. "Call me Joey," he sniffled as she sat next to him. "I guess I should tell someone eventually. Sure, I'll tell you the story."

"Are you sure?" He nodded and stood up, the journalist helping him up. "Give me a few minutes. In the meanwhile, stay here, in the living room. Please."

"Of course."

Joey took a deep breath and went upstairs, changing into something else. A few minutes later, he walked into the living room with two mugs of coffee. "Do you like coffee? I made some for you." 

Eva took it. "Thanks, Joey." He sat himself on the armchair, gathering his thoughts. "Let me begin with how I found this house in the first place..." 


	2. Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again

**October 20th, 1978**

**4:45 am**

~~~

It was a fairly quiet morning in Everlock. No dogs were barking, the lights in the houses were turned off, there weren't even any elders sitting on their front porches or someone smoking weed. The streets were pretty empty for the most part. Then again, not many people were up and about at nearly 5 in the morning. Not like Joey was. 

And no, it wasn't because he had class. He didn't have class until about 3 hours from now. For some reason, he just felt like going on a morning stroll. Okay fine, there was a reason he was up so early. 

It was because he wanted to do something a little illegal called trespassing. Don't worry, he's not going to rob a bank or anything, he's just going to break into an old abandoned house he read about online because he wants to have a cool Halloween party with his friends.

Completely harmless. Totally not life-threatening. Or financially-threatening. 

Now this house was a mile or so from where he lived. Unfortunately Joey didn't have a car and couldn't call someone and be like, "Hey, can I take your car to do something that's totally not illegal?" 

Manny would probably be okay with him taking his van, given Joey didn't get a single scratch on it or his best friend would murder him, problem was Manny was a monster to wake up and would have a hissy fit if Joey called him before the crack of dawn. If it were someone like Matpat he was asking, to be honest, Matt would probably either murder him or report him to the police. 

That's about the extent of the spectrum, so Joey decided to walk. A little exercise never hurt anyone, right? 

He finally saw the house a few yards away and picked up the pace. 

It was just like all the other houses on the street, but the front lawn weeds grew past his knees. If there ever was a path it was gone, buried. The brown door had that sun-bleached look and the window frames were more bare rotting wood than white paint. He bit his lip.

Yeeting himself over the gate, he pulled out a bobby pin he stole-er _borrowed_ from Rosanna's backpack the day before and began picking the lock. It was a trick Nikita taught him. At first, Joey thought it was something you only saw in movies, but turns out, it did work after all.

The door creaked open, moving open a centimeter at a time. It could move faster, but the wood of the door had grown moldy and soft with water and neglect, and if he pushed it harder, he'd probably push right through the door. Once inside, a thick coating of dust coats everything. 

Cobwebs brushed his face as Joey stepped deeper into the house. A shiver rushes down his spine. He can't tell what, but there is something unbelievably spooky about this place. But it was strangely beautiful. 

It had a Victorian feel to it. At least, he thinks its Victorian. Safiya would know, she's a huge history nerd. A good place to throw a Halloween party. Especially since he heard this place was haunted. Ghosts were always fun. 

He smiled to himself and wondered how much it would cost to rent this place.

~~~

**October 25th**

**4:** **00 pm**

~~~

"You did what, Joseph?" Colleen asked, shell-shocked. "I rented an abandoned house. To throw a party. On Halloween. Well, it's not really a party, I'm just inviting all ten of us to hang out." 

"Damn, Joey. I know we used to like exploring spooky places and seeing haunted shiz, but like I never thought you'd rent one," Nikita remarked, patting him on the back. "What does it look like?" 

"It's strangely nice for an old house. Has a bit of a Victorian feel so it must be around a 100 or so years old. Very dusty, but I think we can make do with it. Heard a tale about the house, which is why I wanted to-" He stopped when he spotted the MRS Squad and called for them. "Guys! Ro! Matt! Safiya!"

The trio turned on their heels, hearing him call their names. The blond ran towards them and they gave him confused looks. "What's up, Joey?" Matt asked. 

"Do you guys have any Halloween plans?" They exchanged looks. "No...?" Rosanna answered. "I usually throw a Halloween party, but I decided not to this year after all the alcohol last year." 

"What about you, Matt?" 

"I should be free, Stephanie said she was going out with a few friends and I was going to tag-along, but I can always tell her I have other plans," Matt decided after a few seconds of thought.

"Safiya?"

"Tyler and I had plans for Halloween, but he needed a rain-check. What mischief do you have in mind this time?" Safiya put a piece of hair behind her ear and Joey noticed something silveron her hand, but before he could tell what it was, her hands were in her pockets, out of Joey's view.

"Just a little social gathering in an abandoned house." Safiya widened her eyes. "There better not be any ghosts floating about. You know I _hate_ f*cking with the paranormal." 

"Me neither." Matt agreed immediately after. "But they're fascinating." 

"Language!" Rosanna scolded at the same time Matt said that. "Well then don't f*ck the paranormal then," Nikita responded, who had just caught up to Joey. 

"Guys, don't say the f-word, it's a bad word," Rosanna sighed, disappointed. "Oh sh*t sorry," Nikita apologized then realized what she had said when the cinnamon roll put her hands on her hips and glared at her. 

Safiya rolled her eyes. "That's not what we meant, Nikita-"

"Well of course not because the only thing you guys are sleeping with is-" 

"MOVING ON!" Matt interrupted for Ro's sake. "I'll check in with Stephanie and see if she's okay with it." 

"I'm in! It sounds fun!" Rosanna chimed, looking at her watch. "Oops, I gotta go run to the diner, I'm gonna be late! See you guys!" She ran off, waving goodbye. 

"I'll let you know later," Safiya added before leaving as well. 

"Alright great, see you guys later!" Joey said, waving good-bye. "I'll tell Manny about it, go find Jc, Roi and Teala. I bet you you'll find them at Grind House, the new coffee place in Town Centre!" Nikita said before walking away. 

Joey turned to Colleen who was in the same spot he had originally left her at.

"Roi won't be hard to convince and if Roi comes, Teala and Jc will probably come too if Roi's going," Colleen commented. "This will be easier than expected,"Joey admitted. 

"Come on, I'll give you a ride. I've never been to that coffee shop anyway. I need my caffeine."

~~~

The Grind House was a marquee overlooked by the stone lions. Around the edges were food vendors, giving the middle of the town a sort of market atmosphere. And there was the diner nearby where the gang often met up. Joey opened the door and the two friends walked in. 

Bohemian Rhapsody was playing from a pair of speakers on the ceiling. The menu was written on the wall behind the front counter like a giant whiteboard. Posters and flyers advertising a bunch of different things lined the wall of the counter so patrons could look down and read them. There was another whiteboard on the left wall with a calendar of the month drawn on it, complete with scheduled performers that Colleen's never heard of. The back half of the left wall was entirely covered in chalkboard paint, with sticks of chalk placed in a little bucket right next to the board. The wall was covered in dozens of drawings ranging from goofy doodles to artistic masterpieces. 

There were mugs of coffee, fries with sausages, burgers, buttered slices, fried eggs, small rickety tables, plastic tablecloths, small glass salt and pepper shakers with tiny lids, tomato ketchup in red plastic squeeze bottles, small galley kitchen with fryers, hob and a sink. Servers in odd assortment of casual garb, grease smeared aprons, coarse language, slang and tabloid newspapers.

  
"It's nice in here," Colleen marveled, looking around. "We should come here more often." 

"Yeah. Now I see why those three would go here. It has a cozy, homey vibe." Speaking of which, Colleen saw a familiar boy with a red-shirt and flare jeans, sitting at a table all by himself. But Jc and Teala were nowhere in sight. "Roi!" she called, waving to him. He perked up at the sound of his name and saw her, waving back. 

Joey and Colleen went over to him, sliding into the empty seats. "Hey guys. I didn't know you two hung out here," Roi remarked. "We don't, but we figured you, Jc and Teala would be here. Nikita told us you guys hung around here a lot," Joey explained. 

"Oh, Jc and Teala got jobs here. I just come here to bug them every once in a while." Colleen snorted. Typical Roi. "Not surprised. At least you don't work here, you would've burned the whole place down," she joked and Joey snickered. 

Roi muttered, "You guys are mean," but cracked a smile. "So, what do you need from me?"

"Are you free on Halloween?" Joey inquired and Roi thought for a moment. "Not really, I was planning on pulling some pranks on folks on Halloween night. What are you planning?"

"I rented this abandoned house I found on Gallow's Hill to throw a party. I wanted to spend Halloween there because I heard that-" 

"Did someone say party at an abandoned house? What are we, the Scooby Doo gang?" a voice interrupted and they all turned to find Teala dressed in a yellow, orange and pink striped polo and red pinafore over the shirt. Her curly black hair was tied in a ponytail. 

"Well, kinda," Roi replied. "Except we have more people." Teala looked amused. "If there's a party, I'll bring the alcohol." 

Colleen frowned in disapproval. "Really Teala?" 

"What? It's not illegal. We can all drink now. And it'll be Halloween, we should let loose a little."

Colleen sighed, shaking her head. "Whatever. I'm not driving any of y'all if you get wasted."

Teala rolled her eyes and took out a notepad. "Anyway, welcome to The Grind House, what can I get you lovely folks today?" 

"We'll both take espressos," Joey requested and the barista nodded, going off to get their orders and find Jc. "Don't poison the drinks!" Roi joked and Teala answered, "Me? Poisoning your drinks? Never!"

"JC! TEXAS BOY! I GOT NEWS!" Teala shouted, finding the curly-haired dude.People stared at her, but she ignored him, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him into the corner. This resulted in them nearly toppling over, but Teala caught herself.

"Teala, my friend, one of my favorite people walking on this earth, what the _heck_ do you need that you need to scream to get my attention?" Jc grumbled, turning to his friend. "Joey's throwing a party on Halloween with the gang. He wants us to be there. Oh and he rented a house on Gallow's Hill so he could have it there."

_Huh..._ _Gallow's Hill. Why does that sound so familiar in a bad way?_

_Oh well. It's not like it'll kill me to go to this Halloween party._

"Let me guess, you're bringing the alcohol?" 

"Of course, what's a party without booze?" 

"Ro's not going to be very happy about that. Also, ten people isn't exactly a party." Teala rolled her eyes. "It's a party, you can't change my mind." 

"Less chit-chatting, more working!" the manager shouted, noticing that them slacking off. "Sorry," they said in unison and Jc whispered, "I'll be there," before getting back to work.

~~~

An hour after the RJT trio agreed to come to the party, Manny and Nikita met up at the Road Side Diner Classic, the diner near The Grind House. Now that Manny thinks about it, the _only_ diner in this town.

Passing by Flint's Arcade and noticing Matt from the window. His eyes lingered on the brown-haired boy for the briefest of seconds before he turned to the window. Manny looked away as quickly as he could.

The aspiring record producer walked over to the next block to the diner, the door ringing as he opened it.

Old vinyl records and movie posters lined the red and white walls. The seats and tables were a bright red with a reflective silver trim on the edges. A juke box was nestled next to the bar, playing an upbeat song by The Beatles.

The diner was full. He looked around at the busy tables. An old couple eating side by side, one glass of wine each, studiously bent over their meals. A group of young women in their thirties collapsing with helpless giggles as a stern woman dining alone nearby looked on and frowned. Businessmen in their grey suits lighting up cigars. Tourists, trying to decipher the menu. A family and their teenage children. The noise level was high. The smoke level, too. But it didn’t bother him, Manny was used to it.

Finally, the raven-haired boy found his best friend was already at a table, wearing a bright pink button-up that she had unbuttoned, but tied at the bottom and jean shorts, with some of her classic boots. She had her matching pink shoulder bag next to her and smiled when she saw her best friend.

"Manny! Hey!" He slid into the seat next to her. "Hey, Kita. What do you want, you never come here unless the whole group meets up here."

"I see your priorities are straight."

"Listen Kita, my priorities will always be gay as hell. Seriously, what do you want?"

"Joey's throwing a party and this house he rented on Halloween. Be there or be square." She inspected her nails.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, did you expect it to be something more important?" She looked at him, playing with her hair.

"Uhm... yes?"

Nikita rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Unbelivable, Manny. Anyway, we should order some dinner if you want."

As if on cue, Rosanna arrived at their table in her blue and orange waitress uniform. "Hey Manny and Nikita, what can I get you guys? It'll be on the house."

"Ro, you know you don't have to do that, we can pay," Manny insisted. "But I want to," Rosanna argued.

"You're too sweet for this world, but no."

"I'm really not as sweet as you guys think," Rosanna sighed, taking out a notepad. "Psh, please Ro. You're like a cinnamon roll," Nikita teased.

There was a dark edge in her voice. "No,really. I'm not."

Manny and Nikita exchanged looks, puzzled.

~~~

**October 26th, 1978**

**6:00 pm**

~~~

If there was one thing Safiya hated, it was her job. 

But it was a good thing that this job had reasonable hours, decent pay and fair holiday rates. 

That doesn't make her hate it any less. She worked at the party shop called 'Party Planet' (I know, what a wonderful name) in the only mall in Everlock, selling decorations and other party necessities for any event you need.

Gosh, she sounded like an advertisement. You see 'parties' and 'Safiya' weren't exactly the best mix. It wasn't an explosive mix sure, but that didn't mean the raven-haired college student liked it. And being surrounded by things that have to do with it all the time, 6 hours a day, 6 days a week, wasn't exactly... ideal. 

Safiya also hated forcing a smile for hours on end. Especially for customers that like to test her patience. She hated the whole changing uniform thing when holidays changed. Hey, she was notorious for her odd outfits, but her uniforms were a whole different level of fashion disaster. Safiya also despised customers who came in right before closing time. Like come on people, she's got a life too. 

Oh well. At least it paid rent. 

That was all that mattered. Fixing her pumpkin headband, she leaned on the counter, sighing. Then straightened when she saw someone walk in and flashed on a smile, ready to endure whatever was going to be hurled her way.

Thankfully, it was just Joey and Matt, so Safiya relaxed. "You look so strange in color," Matt teased elbowing her. She rolled her eyes. "It's not the first or last time you'll see me wearing color," she replied dryly. "Getting Halloween decorations for the party?" 

"Yeah, Manny and Ro insisted that I do at least a _little_ accessorizing and cleaning. Enough to you know, make it more _lively_ , but not too much so that it'll be a pain in the ass to clean. But both were busy, so Ro had Matt come with me," Joey said, leaning on the counter.

"Well, have fun. Don't spend too much money on those decorations. "

The blond rolled his eyes and said mockingly,"Okay, mother." 

Safiya glowered at him and Joey gave her a cheeky grin before skipping away. Leaning on the counter, she let out a sigh, frowning. "You okay?" Matt asked and she shrugged. "I don't know really. I just... I don't want to say I hate this, but I do. I'm sick of this town. I'm sick of being stuck at this stupid job. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't even be here, you know? Like I was meant for something else. Then again, maybe it's just me clinging onto a stupid fantasy that will never happen."

"Is it about you being rejected from Stanford like three years ago?" She thought about it. "If I'm honest... yeah. That was my ticket out of here. But I started dating Tyler because I got rejected so I guess I shouldn't complain."

"I guess so. I'm gonna go help Joey. He's gonna go insane in those aisles."

The poser goth snorted."You go do that."

"See you, Safiya. You're at least going to the carnival in a few days if you can't go to the party, right?"

"Of course Matt, I wouldn't miss it. Now shoo, you can't leave Joey unsupervised for too long."

Matt chuckled and they exchanged grins and Matt left the counter, falling into the Halloween abyss. 


	3. The Nightmare Before Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning if you're looking for a quick read, this is not it. 
> 
> Enjoy the carnival chapter :)

~~~

**October 30th, 1978**

**5:30 pm**

~~~

The night before Halloween, the Everlock gang (and a few other friends) had decided to go to the annual carnival, for what screams Halloween more than playing games that were clearly rigged, riding rides that want to make you barf and going to haunted houses that weren't all that scary?

Well, besides trick-or-treating of course, but everyone outgrew that years ago. Jc and Chelsey had both decided to go as Shaggy and Scooby because... well, why not? There wasn't a more iconic duo than those two.

I mean come on, who doesn't love Scooby-Doo? Jc went for a simple oversized green shirt and brown flare pants and black slip-ons, while his girlfriend merely wore a Scooby-Doo onesie and her usual black converse.

"Aww, look at how cute that stuffed elephant is!" Chelsey cooed, pointing to a grey elephant that was displayed in a Knock Em Down game. "I'm gonna go try and win it."

Her boyfriend snorted. "Good luck with that, those games are rigged as hell." She frowned, offended. "You don't believe in me, Justin?" Chelsey narrowed her eyes.

"Well..." he trailed off and she punched him on the arm. "You're lucky I love you," she hissed before marching off to go try and beat the game. "Time to prove you wrong."

His girlfriend stormed off, pulling over her hood of her Scooby-Doo onesie. He snorted and trailed after her, wondering if she would prove him wrong.

She didn't.

Chelsey was so close, yet so far from being able to knock them all down and he couldn't help but laugh behind her as she failed again and again. "Oh shut up, will you?" she snapped and that only made Jc laugh even harder.

"Seriously Jc, stop it!" Her cheeks flushed and her scowl deepened. Eventually the hippie stopped laughing and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.

"Okay fine, I'll stop laughing. Here, let me try." He kissed the top of her head and went to go hand over a few of his tickets to the woman running the booth. In return, he received three balls and he walked back to where Chelsey was standing.

"Learn from a master, Chels." He held up a ball to his eye level and she rolled her eyes, scoffing.

He threw it, successfully knocking down a few pins. The girl in a Scooby-Doo onesie looked unimpressed. Jc sighed and went to go throw his second ball.

Surprisingly, Jc hadn't spotted any of the others yet, then again, he was too busy trying to beat this darn knock 'em down game to really keep an eye out for his friends. He was completely in his zone right now and was doing surprisingly well.

"Hiya Jc!" Roi said popping out of nowhere and spooking him, causing Jc to miss completely. "Seriously Roi?" He turned to his friend, who was completely silver from head to toe and Jc gave him an amused smile. 

Roi decided to go as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. "At least you didn't try to make your own costume and resulted in a lot of blood where you had to run to Teala's for help," he snickered. "Or dressed in a white cardboard box claiming to be the 'Ghost of Christmas Present." Jc imitated a ghost by waggling his fingers and Roi rolled his eyes. "Okay I admit, my past Halloween costumes haven't exactly been the greatest. But at this this one wasn't destructive!"

"That's an improvement," Chelsey agreed. "I'm surprised that you haven't gotten to the point of lighting your costume on fire by accident."

"Just because I almost burned the entire Everlock campus down once does not make me that irresponsible!" Roi defended himself and a voice bite back, "Yes it does." 

They all turned to find Colleen, dressed as her alternate ego that she created, Miranda Sings. Red lipstick, royal purple sweater, fire-red pants and all. 

The three of them shook their heads and Roi piped up, "She's coming in like an hour or so. As for the others, I have no idea where they are. They should be here. Then again, Manny's driving a few of them, so that might be why." 

She made a clicking sound with her tongue. "True. And if Nikita's with him, they're bound to be late."

~~~

"HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO FIND AND PUT ON A WIG, LADY?" Manny screamed, honking the horn in his orange van. Teala blinked in the backseat, fidgeting with her red hood. She had gone as a steampunk Red Riding Hood, complete with a red velvet and white lace mini dress, leather belt and black lace gloves. Manny was a fortune teller of sorts, wearing a turban with an orange feather on his head, donning dark pants and a buccaneer shirt with gathered sleeves and gold chain at his waist, along with a few other pieces of gold jewelry.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Nikita walked out with her Daphne costume, fixing her reddish orange wig with a purple headband, sporting a purple mini-dress, green neckerchief and lavender heels.

"CONSIDERING HOW MANY WIGS I HAVE, A LONG TIME!" she yelled back, throwing open the passenger door and hopping in.

Teala slowly shrank into the backseat, scared for her life. 

"TEALA AND I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR NEARLY 45 MINUTES, NIKITA. AND BECAUSE OF YOU, WE'RE LATE!" 

"DON'T RUSH PERFECTION MANNY!" 

"I WASN'T RUSHING PERFECTION, I WAS RUSHING YOU!" Nikita gasped so loudly, Teala thought she was gonna slap him or some shiz.

And she did slap him.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, GUTIERREZ."

"NO."

"B*TCH-"

"OKAY STOP IT YOU TWO AND MANNY, JUST DRIVE ALREADY, DAMNIT!" Teala shrieked, not wanting this to go any further. "MY GOODNESS."

Thankfully they stopped their childish squabbling, Manny turning on his engine. The curly-haired girl muttered, "I'm surrounded by the biggest drama queens ever."

As Manny drove the van down the windy road, hating that Nikita lived near the graveyard and the woods with her parents. Most of the ride had been completely silent so far, save for the music that was playing on the radio. It was Nikita to broke the silence. "Did Safiya tell y'all she had news for us?" 

Manny slammed his foot on the brakes, wanting to hear the gossip. This caused the other two to jerk forward and he whipped to his best friend. To him, this was clearly way more important than driving. "What news?" 

She shrugged, adjusting her pink panty hose. "She said she had something she wanted to tell us, that's all."

"Huh," Teala commented. "Wonder what it could be." 

Nikita looked at her nails as Manny started driving again."Probably something about leaving Everlock, you know how much she wants to leave this place. Speaking of Safiya, who bets she's going as Morticia again?"

"I'll bet you ten bucks that she's gonna be Morticia again, there's no doubt about it," Manny offered. "And a burger." 

She smiled. "That sounds like a deal." The moment was cut short by something jumping on the roof of the van. "OH SH-"

"NOT TODAY SATAN!" Teala hollered. "DRIVE FASTER, YOU IDIOT!" Nikita shrieked.

Manny slammed his foot on the gas pedal and drove faster, causing the passenger in the back seat to bump her head into the back door. She yelped, touching the back of her head. Graciously, there wasn't any blood, but her head still throbbed. "Sorry Tea!" Manny squeaked, making a sharp turn.

Whoever or whatever was on the roof still held on, even as he swerved. Then a lanky and abnormally long arm broke through the back window, grabbing Teala. "NOT THE WINDOW!" Manny screeched, trying to get the cretin off the van, but failing. 

"uyo lilw pya," he hissed loud enough for only her to hear. She was bewildered, not understanding a word he said. 

"OKAY THE HECK? GET YOUR GRUBBY AS PAWS OFF MY FRIEND, YOU APE!" Nikita shouted, trying to yank Teala back. Teala used her legs to try and push him off the van. He loosened his grip on her and she punched him in the face. Yet the damn bastard still held on.

As they drove off, the troublemaker looked out the window and bellowed, "GOOD DAY SIR," and held up the finger as they drove off. "My goodness, what the hell was that?" 

"Benjamin," Teala answered, rubbing her knuckle. 

"The bastard that thinks free love is wrong and segregation should still be an option?" Nikita inquired and Teala nodded, looking troubled and antsy. "Yeah," Teala murmured. Manny rolled his eyes. "Can't believe people like that still exist, it's 1978, get with the times! No wonder his little girlfriend's in the hospital." 

"Yeah...our interactions haven't exactly been pleasant since... you know," Teala murmured, not wanting to talk about it anymore. The two exchanged looks and nodded and he declared, "Let's just forget about it and have some fun, okay? The night's just begun, don't let it ruin it!"

He gave her a grin and she gave him a small smile. Manny turned back around and started driving again.

~~~

Matt, Stephanie, Ro and Mike got out of Matt's blue station wagon **(I think it's a station wagon, don't come at me)** , finally arriving at the carnival that Everlock's been awaiting all year long. Ro clapped her hands in delight, replacing her flats for red pumps. She and Mike decided to go as Sandy and Danny from Grease this year. Rosanna wore a black off-the-shoulder shirt and skintight leather pants, while Mike wore a simply black t-shirt and black jeans.

"Halloween's my favorite time of the year, I wonder what they have in store this year!" Rosanna exclaimed.

"Hopefully it's not as lame as that 'scary' corn maze last year," Mike snickered as Ro got out of the car, still much, much shorter than he is. He patted her on the head and teased, "You'll never be as tall as I am Ro, stop trying."

Ro put her hands on her hips and scowled. "I'll get stilts then. Then I'll be taller than you."

"You'd fall before you can even stand up straight," Matt snickered and Rosanna's scowl deepened. "It's hard being 4'10, stop judging!" 

"Ro, everyone was 4'10 in like... 4th grade. You're shorter than the average 10-year-old."

"Well, it's not my fault!" As she put on her leather jacket, the petite girl crossed her arms. "Blame my genetics!"

"Alright alright, we should stop teasing Ro," Stephanie admonished, taking her fiancé's hand. They went as Princess Leia and Hans Solo, Stephanie wearing a white, long-sleeved mini dress, matching boots that she borrowed from Nikita and a belt that she had made herself. On the other hand, Matt wore a cream long-sleeved shirt, black vest, a brown polyurethane belt and matching boots with blue jeans . "Come on, the others are waiting. We're late." 

"Probably not as late as the drama queens though. They're late to anything and everything," Matt mumbled and Ro smacked him on the arm. "Be nice," she scorned. 

"I _am_ nice," her soul sibling countered and she scoffed. 

It perfect for an evening at the carnival. The sky was dotted with a few candy-floss clouds. The entrance could be seen in the distance and the long queues edged forward slowly. Customers were becoming increasingly excited and impatient as they took a few steps forward every so often. Faint music could be heard from beyond the tall gates with the occasional happy scream suddenly piercing the air. Closer to the entrance and the massive structures of the rides could be seen: a rollercoaster, a big wheel, a helter skelter. Below, younger children stood watching, eating their sweets and snacks. Ice creams wobbled perilously over the cones and dripped down their small fingers as they melted; some munched on brightly coloured balls soft sugar strands that dissolved on the tongue - sweeter than sweet and sticking to the teeth better than glue. A few ate too much and complained to their parents.

Passing by a few stalls, the couples finally saw their friends. Well, a few of them at least. Manny, Teala, Nikita and Safiya hadn't arrived yet, it seemed. They were surprised that Safiya wasn't, she usually would be the first to arrive to nearly every single damn thing. 

"Hey guys!" Ro greeted them. "You all look great!" She went to go hug them all. "Thanks Ro!" they chorused. "Nobody else is with you guys?" Colleen asked and they all shook their heads. 

"Offered Safiya and Tyler a ride, but they declined. Nikita's already with Manny, but I'm not sure about Teala," Matt answered. 

"Well, Manny and Nikita are always late, so I'm not concerned, Teala's probably hitching a ride from Manny considering they live on the same street and Safiya's probably slobbering over her boyfriend, let's be honest," Joey concluded and the others snorted. "I regret introducing them to each other sometimes," Matt joked and Rosanna let out a giggle. 

"Hello you sad disappointments," a voice said and they turned to find Manny, Nikita and Teala standing behind them. It was the former who had said that. "Look at what the cat dragged in," Jc drawled, holding a stuffed elephant. "You three have finally made it."

"We're not _that_ late," Nikita scoffed. "We had a little... _incident_ on the drive here." 

Rosanna looked concerned. "What happened? None of you got hurt, right?" Teala shook her head. "Let's just say... we had an _unwelcome_ guest that decided to you know... attack the van."

"Oh dang," Joey commented, surprised. "You sure you guys are okay?"

Nikita shrugged and looked at the other two. "We are now." But Teala's expression said otherwise. Roi peered at his friend curiously and she shook her head, waving him off. "Let's talk about it another time y'all, we should get going. It's already like 6."

Manny nodded, but announced, "Y'all decide on whatever, I need to go to the bathroom real quick." He hurried off and Stephanie asked, "What do y'all have in mind?"

"Maybe the haunted house?" Colleen offered. "The haunted houses are never scary enough," Mike complained. "It's like a few actors and that's it. The jumpscares aren't even scary at all!"

"Well then what else do you have in mind?" she countered and they were interrupted by a third voice saying, "Sup losers, you've been blessed by my presence." 

It was Safiya, who had finally showed up. Not in a Morticia costume.

Matt observed the look from the bottom up. Red velvet platform heels were on Safiya's feet, black fishnets covering her legs. She wore a black v-neck dress with a slit on the leg and draped in a fur coat. Rosanna shot a disapproving look at the pipe in her friend's hand and Safiya clarified, "It's not real, don't worry." 

"Look at what the cat dragged in," Jc drawled. "Why were you late? Making out with your boyfriend and losing track of time again?" Colleen teased and Safiya rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You always assume the worst of me."

"Because it saves time, honey. Seriously though, answer the question." 

"I had to wait until Alison showed up so we could switch off for my shift, but she came in late," Safiya answered simply, shrugging. The group exchanged looks, sensing something off about it, but ignored it. They didn't get to press any further, since Manny decided to come back at that moment.

"GIRL! YOU SAID YOU HAVE NEWS, WHAT'S THE GOSSIP?" The raven-haired girl blinked and frowned like he had caught her on a secret. "It's nothing, I can tell you tomorrow." 

Manny rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Safiya honey... it's not nothing, I can see you're hiding something." 

"Even if I was, it can wait. We're missing out on all the fun." She sauntered off and he sighed, disappointed. "C'mon, you're no fun." He went to follow her.

"Not so fast, you little bastard, you owe me ten bucks!" Nikita chirped, holding out her left hand. 

Manny grumbled and pulled out his wallet, handing a ten dollar bill to Nikita's waiting hand. "Damn you Safiya, you really had to ditch the Morticia costume this year?" Manny whined and the taller girl chuckled. "I knew you guys would bet on it, so I changed it up this year."

Safiya smirked and Stephanie asked, "Where's Tyler?" 

"He'll be here any second, give him a minute. Now come on, let's go see what the carnival has in store."

~~~

"I can deal with vampires, I can deal with werewolves and all sorts of things, but clowns? Why does it have to be clowns?" Joey whined, looking at all the carnival workers stationed at the booths and rides. And they were all dressed as clowns.

"Are clowns anyone's thing?" Colleen asked, agreeing with him, passing by a carnival worker. The clown was a caricature of every TV white faced, orange haired, big lipped buffoon she's ever seen. She would give him a zero for originality.

"I find clowns delightful," Matt deadpanned, stealing popcorn from Jc. "Hey!" the hippie protested, yanking it out of his reach. "At least _ask_ , asshole."

Matt merely grinned and walked off to the carnival games with his fianceé. It seemed he had his eye on a pink stuffed-horse. He quickly kissed Stephanie on the head before attempting the game.

Safiya was there as well, looking for her boyfriend in the crowds. She finally caught sight of Tyler and met up with him, quickly pecking him on the lips.

Colleen was planning on going to the bumper cars with Roi and Teala since Monette was supposed to be meeting her boyfriend there.

Jc and Chelsey were on the merry-go-round, Rosanna and Mike were going to the maze and the mean girls, Nikita and Manny, were going to the fun house.

Joey was going with Nikita and Manny too if you were wondering. Can't forget him! This was going to be a great night for the town of Everlock, perhaps the most unforgettable Halloween season in a long time.

~~~

"C'mon, it'll be fun Teala? Come with us? Please?" Roi pleaded with her, pouting. "Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" 

"I don't want another van incident," she answered quietly in a worried tone and Colleen put a hand on her shoulder, sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear about what happened honey. But just know we'll sock anybody in the face and beat 'em up if they try anything. C'mon Tea, have some fun, we never get to hang out like this anymore!"

Teala sighed and eventually nodded, putting on a smile. "Okay."

"YAYYYYYY!" Roi cheered and bystanders gawked at him, but he didn't pay them any attention. "LET'S GO! I'LL DRIVE IF YOU WANT!"

Teala suddenly looked scared for her life as he dragged her along, yanking Colleen with them in the process, the three nearly toppling over each other like dominoes. "I don't think that's a good idea-" Colleen began and Teala muttered, "Yeah, this is the same guy who poured milk into his cereal bag-"

"Okay, but the amount of times I've done something like that is at a single digit-" Roi argued and his two friends said in unison, "SINGLE DIGITS GO UP TO NINE!"

Roi scoffed, feeling called out. Thankfully, he saw his girlfriend, Monette and ran over to her, meeting up with her, who was going as Dorothy. She fidgeted with one of her braids, the plaid blue bow straightening. She was fitted in a matching pinafore, a white blouse underneath and the iconic sparkly red shoes were on her feet. Her boyfriend kissed her on the cheek and flashed her a smile, immediately jumping into a conversation.

After a few minutes of waiting in line, they were admitted in, getting into the bumper cars. Teala chose not to join, instead she pulled out a camera from her bag. The bell that signaled for the bumper cars to begin dinged.

From outside of the rink, Teala snapped a photo, forgetting about what had happened earlier for a while and let herself have some fun. The night was young after all.

Meanwhile with the resident hippies, this was happening:

"If I regurgitate on this ride, you better regret the day you were born for dragging me along," the human Chelsey threatened, clutching the elephant Chelsey closer to her. "You'll be _fine_ Chels, it's not like you'll have clowns tie you up to the merry-go-round and turn on the merry-go-round, making you spin round and round and-"

Her nose crinkled. "That's kinky." He laughed out loud, slinging an arm around her as they got onto the ride. The line was non-existent, which was surprising, there usually was a massive line. Jc helped his girlfriend onto a horse with a golden mane and baby blue saddle. 

She set the stuffed animal in her lap, making sure Chelsey the elephant was safely seated before the ride started. 

Up and down and round and round. Like life was. Only, nobody would have known that life was about to go downhill. 

~~~

"Please Steph?" Matt begged as they passed the ferris wheel. "It'll be fun!" 

"You got _stuck_ with Ro up there for an hour and a half last year," Stephanie prodded, eyeballing the tiny cars with a single bar keeping passengers from teetering off the wheel. "I don't want another incident like that, but this time I'm with _you_ of all people." 

"Wow, don't want the possibility of spending an hour and a half more than 200 feet in the air with your awesome fiancé?" Matt asked, putting a hand over his heart dramatically. "I'm hurt." 

She couldn't bring herself to say no and eventually allowed him to drag her over to the mildly short line. They wait for about a couple of minutes before they are ushered to a compartment at the bottom. "All set," the worker who was stationed. "Have a nice ride!"

The wheel began to turn as the operator waved at them, getting higher and higher in the air. "It would be sad if we fell to an untimely death, huh?" Matt questioned, looking at the carnival below. It looked so tiny from up here. Stephanie muttered, "Not helping. I don't want to die young."

"You won't," he assured her, squeezing her hand. "We'll be fine. What could possibly go wrong? Our lives aren't you know, a horror movie."

"But statistically speaking-"

"I don't want to talk about the statistics of people falling off a ferris wheel, Stephanie. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the view." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Once she opened them again, she allowed herself to admire everything. 

Stars lighted the sky like snow-flakes in the night, yet appear still, like an old photograph. Stephanie smiled, feeling the wind blow through her brown hair. At the top of the Ferris wheel, the musical roar of the carnival dimmed, letting in the sound of the crinkle of paper from the rolled-up bag of popcorn she held tight in one fist. They shared a grin as he kicked her feet out at the open air. "Besides, if we die up here, least we're together right?" he asked jokingly and she cracked a smile, taking in the small town from up above, like a soaring bird. They leaned in for a kiss, a picture perfect moment at the top of the world.

~~~

"I think you took us in a circle Ro," Mike said as they tried to find their way through the maze. He flashed his flashlight onto the scarecrow in front of them. "I distinctively know what that scarecrow looks like by heart after the third time, babe." 

"We haven't been in this part of the maze yet," Rosanna claimed, making another turn. "It's not like you're not being much of a coxswain either. Israel Hands is more likely to help me and he'd try to kill me!"

"Okay now you're just being spiteful." Rosanna saw a flash of movement and immediately clutched onto Mike's arm, waving her beacon of light around.

"What was that?" she squeaked. Her boyfriend took a gander, trying to spot what she saw. "It's probably nothing Ro," Mike said, shrugging it off. "Let's get out of this maze already."

Paranoid, Rosanna kept looking over her shoulder as they kept maneuvering through the corn labyrinth. A shadow stalked behind them, waiting to strike, but the couple didn't seem to detect their presence. 

It was all fine and dandy until all of a sudden, he heard a loud scream coming from her and she started sprinting. Someone (though it was likely only an actor) was chasing after them with a _chainsaw._

"Ro!" he called for her. "Ro!" 

He chased after her, finding it difficult to find the tiny brunette. "You've got to be kidding, I lost her. Great." He put his flashlight to the scarecrow they passed barely a few minutes ago. "Guess it's just you and me now, buddy." 

Oh and the chainsaw guy too. 

"WHAT THE FRICK FRACK TICK TACK PATTY WACK SNICK SNACK QUARTERBACK BIG MAC HEART ATTACK RACE TRACK DOUBLE BACK GUY NAMED JACK DO YOU WANT CHAINSAW FREAK! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rosanna screeched and Mike's shoulders sagged before he went to follow her voice.

~~~

"Remind me why we decided to go to the worst part of the Carnival again," Joey said as he looked at 20 different reflections of himself. "I always forget that I hate the funhouse. And Willie."

The trio tremored, remembering the last time they and the MRS squad in the funhouse. And Safiya was almost stabbed by his little fishhook because he was swinging it around maniacally and not paying much attention to his little weapon. She never stepped foot near this place ever again. 

"No idea but I'm already feeling nauseous and disoriented," Manny answered, looking at his own appearance. Nikita walked over to knock on her reflection, but accidentally hit her friends' faces instead. "Really Kita?" Manny carped and she gave him a contrite look. "Sorry. Let's just get out of here. I want to go to the haunted house and the line didn't look that long when we passed it."

In the few seconds it took to gather themselves, they already lost Joey. "Joey?" Nikita called for her friend. "Joey? Where are you?"

"I don't even know where I am!" came the response and Manny tried not to laugh, covering it with a cough. "Where are _you_?" he shot the question back to her. "And how do we get out of this place?"

"Walk. Pray to the funhouse gods that we get out of here. Feels like those are our best options," Manny prompted. 

Miraculously, they made it out completely intact, planning to book to the haunted house. As they turned around the corner, they were nearly trampled alive by a pair of twins. "Woah there!" Manny hollered, pulling him and Nikita out of the way. "Are those the Dollmaker's twins?" Joey asked. "Yeah, the Roberts twins are little kleptomaniacs. Hated babysitting them," Nikita groused.

"Wonder where they learned that from," Manny quipped and she gave him a death stare. "Those are allegations! Accusing me of-"

"I'm sorry, who bailed you out of jail a few months ago?" Joey sassed and she made a long face. "Okay fine, they learned from me."

"What a wonderful role model." They passed a pretzel stand. "Want some pretzels?" Nikita offered, gesturing towards the silver cart shaded by a yellow and blue umbrella. "As long as you don't steal them," Joey wisecracked.

~~~

"One of you couples have to go on that Tunnel of Love ride," Manny insisted and they all immediately shook their heads, voicing their protests. "I say we send in Matt and Steph," Safiya proposed, motioning towards them. "They're the ones getting married." 

"No way!" Matt objected and Stephanie shook her head. "Hell no, Safiya and Tyler, you two go, you're the ones with a gothic aesthetic. It'll be good for you to be surrounded by you know... happiness."

Tyler cringed and shook his head. Safiya grumped,"Over my dead body. I hate the lovey-dovey stuff. It disgusts me."

Colleen gaped at her. "You've literally-"

Tyler hindered her sentence, saying, "Ro and Mike would probably enjoy it the most, Ro likes the cheesy rides." 

"I hated that ride, the clowns stationed creep me out," Rosanna whined and Mike agreed, answering, "It's so cheesy! Why would anyone want to ride it? Jc and Chelsey?" 

The couple mentioned simultaneously frowned and Jc merely replied, "Hell no."

"Roi and Monette, will you be the brave souls that venture into the Tunnel of Love?" Nikita narrated sarcastically and the couple shook their heads frantically, exchanging spooked looks. "There's no way you're dragging me over there, I refuse," Roi declared.

"Well, I petition Safiya and Tyler, they were late," Joey said, finally speaking up and Safiya scowled. "For good reason! It's not like I was trying to be late on purpose, Joseph!"

The group actually agreed for once on sending that couple in and Safiya stared them down. "Literally die," she groaned. "I hate you all."

~~~

Safiya knew she'd definitely binge-watch The Addams Family after this. 

To say it was cliche was an understatement. She had taken off her coat, it was too warm in that thing for her to be in it for long. California never really had seasons, it was pretty warm all year round. Left it with Ro since well... she was the most responsible of the group. And Safiya trusted her the most with her belongings.

"I can feel you shirking away from this like a vampire does when they see the sun," Tyler teased and she rolled her eyes, looking at all the ribbons, hearts, glitter and roses. If that wasn't bad enough, it was all various shades of pink. 'Moonlight Serenade' by Frank Sinatra was humming gently in the background. 

He put a hand on her waist as the got on the swan boat, sliding in next to her. Safiya scooted a little closer, getting comfortable, their legs touching.

Linking arms with him, the raven-haired girl leaned her head on his shoulder and let her eyes close. "Least we got away from the lot of idiots for a while. Even if it's like we're in a Hallmark store," she sighed, trying to look on the bright side and he chuckled. 

As their hands intertwined, Safiya peeking at the archways above. The boat rocked gently on the guideways over the susurration of water bouncing off the walls around them. 

Thankfully, there weren't any couples getting frisky in the dark ride. Because let's be honest, a lot of people coming here were college students. And you know how people can get sometimes. No seriously, she's heard the stories from Nikita. They all had to cover Rosanna's ears the whole time as she told them about it. 

People were horny sometimes. Make that all the time. 

Somehow, they were kissing without even thinking about it, the world falling away. It was slow and soft. His hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled. She ran her fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them and she could feel the beating of his heart against her chest.Then they heard a snap and broke apart, finding Manny and Colleen behind them, giving them sheepish looks. "Whoopsie," Manny said, putting the camera down. 

"You've got to be kidding me," Tyler exhaled. "What? It'll be a good picture for the kids if you have them," Manny countered, holding the camera so Colleen could see it. "Aww cute. Continue your foreplay, don't mind us."

The couple glared sourly at them and went back to cuddling instead. "Damnit Manny, we ruined the moment," Colleen mewled, taking back Teala's camera that she lended them. "Least we got the photo," Manny pointed out. They high-fived each other and laughed.

~~~

"I'm disappointed you didn't have sex in the Tunnel of Love. It would've been an experience," Nikita drawled as they came back. "You've had sex in the Tunnel of Love?" Matt asked and she nodded, raising an eyebrow. No one was too surprised honestly, Nikita was well... Nikita.

"You haven't? Why do you think people go to that ride anyway? No one likes the cheesiness, they like the darkness so they can fu-" Roi slapped a hand over Nikita's mouth. "That's quite enough sex talk from you, Nikita. We get it, you're always hot and bothered, can we _please_ move on?" She pursed her lips and he removed his hand."My goodness. Let's go to the haunted house, shall we? And this time Safiya, don't sock zombie actors in the face and dump your boyfriend."

Chelsey glanced at Jc in confusion (at that time they hadn't been dating quite yet) and asked, "Did he just say punch an actor in the face and _dump_ -" and he nodded. "It wasn't a great week for all of us."

"Yeah. Nearly broke the poor actor's arm," Rosanna recalled, snickering.

Safiya crossed her arms, taking her coat back. "In my defense, the zombie actor was attacking me. And Tyler abandoned me. WHEN HE PROMISED NOT TO. HE BROKE THE FRICKIN' PINKIE SWEAR." 

"They're paid to do that!" Monette uttered at the same time Tyler said, "I was losing circulation in my arm and was like three feet away!" 

"Can we just get to the haunted house already?" Teala interjected and they all nodded. "To the haunted house!" Matt shouted, leading the group to the queue. 

~~~

"I swear Tyler, if you leave me again, we're _over_ ," Safiya hissed, clutching his arm tightly as they were about to enter the haunted house, using him as a shield. Tyler said nothing as they moved ahead to the 'fear-mobile'. 

"If you think you can end my favorite couple that easily, you have something else coming," Manny ridiculed. The other couples behind them overheard and made various wounded noises. "What? I thought we established that when I decided to stalk them earlier."

They all gave him an odd look, but didn't vocalize their judgement. In the back of the line, Rosanna and Mike were holding hands and she fussed in a hushed voice, "I'm not so sure about this."

"Don't be skittish, you know the haunted house is never that scary," her boyfriend comforted her, squeezing her hand gently.

"But it does get scarier every year. What if it's really scary this time? You remember what happened in the maze." She was still very lily-livered from the fact that someone had been chasing her with a chainsaw in the middle of a maze where she had no sense of direction whatsoever.

"It won't be, I can almost guarantee that we won't get a Corn Maze 2.0." Joey, who was in front of them reassured her, saying, "Trust me Ro, you'll be okay. If you're scared, you have Mike and you have me. Don't worry about it." Her friend gave her a smile as they were led into the fear-mobile. The carts were two rows of three, containing six in total. Joey generously took the edge seat on the left, Ro squished in the middle and Mike on the right. 

Once they were safely situated, the horrors began.

~~~

Colleen was sitting in the front of row with Roi and Monette, while Jc, Chelsey and Teala were in the back row. In the cart of them was Joey, Rosanna, Mike, Nikita, Matt and Stephanie. The others were in the cart before them. As they entered the haunted house, they took a nosedive down the tracks into the basement. It drop felt unusually fast and they all let out a scream. 

Then they were enveloped in complete darkness. Colleen had to confess that it daunted her a little. Darkness suffocated her body like a damp, musty, thick blanket, clinging to every inch of her skin. The only evidence of her being is the steady thump of her heart and the cool air in her lungs. Everything else was completely erased. 

Eventually green light flashed on and exhibited a graveyard. The graveyard was spooky. It was full of crumbly gravestones covered in some kind of slime. There were even a few etches on it. 

And it was full of zombies. That looked alarmingly real. 

One of them caught the group off-guard, jumping onto the front of the cart and they screamed.The emaciated man had dirt and grit all over his clothes and grimy body. His dark grey shirt (which used to be white) was tattered and shredded mainly where his heart should be. It's snake-like emerald green eyes darted around with emotionless eyes. 

"I thought this was supposed to be fun!" Chelsey cried, hiding in the crook of Jc's neck. "This is not fun at all!" The undead creatures circled around the cart, moaning and groaning, searching for their next meal. Some grinned lewdly, some had a severed arm, a few had flesh hanging like tattered rags from the shoulder, their teeth filed to points and all long fingernails like claws. It was supposed to be all fun and games, but seriously, this was going to give Colleen nightmares!

"No thank you zombies, I want to live!" Teala yelled, smacking the zombie away and the fear-mobile zipped away from the zombies. "What the heckity heck was that?" Roi shouted, alarmed. "This is only the first room too!" Jc groaned, not looking forward to whatever was coming next.

They braced for the worst and entered the room and found

Crystal chandeliers spiraled down from the arching crimson red ceiling, illuminating the glimmering golden walls. And it wasn't just the ballroom–the women sparkled like a box of jewels, shades of emerald and ruby and amethyst swirling before them. It turned out to be a ballroom and were met with...

Vampires.

With skin as pale as freshly poured milk and fangs protruding over the thin blue lips. And they looked hungry. Like really hungry. At least they were dancing.

"You're kidding," Teala groaned. "I DON'T WANT TO BE A SNACK. I LIKE LOOKING LIKE ONE, NOT BEING ONE."

"These are Safiya's people, maybe she actually enjoyed this part of the ride," Colleen joked half-heartedly, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work and they all huddled closely together, thankful that there was some light again.

"Esteemed guests," said an elderly vampire with piercing blue eyes. "It seems our dinner has arrived early." He gave the humans a carnal grin. "A truly special treat."

Looking delighted, the blood-thirsty nonhumans swarmed around the six of them. Some jumped onto the front, others lingered in the back. Thankfully, they were yeeted out of the ballroom and braced for the worst. Expecting something like werewolves they found-

An indoor pool. Now Colleen guessed it was back to the old cardboard cut-outs of scary creatures. She was actually kind of relieved. The walls were water-stained and the water itself was filled to the brim with algae. 

As they reached the halfway-point, a seashell emerged and opened, revealing a mermaid. From a distance what had appeared to be a mane of golden hair was actually shimmering golden scales from an inch above her golf ball sized beady fish eyes, up over her heads and down past her shoulders. Her skin was a steely grey, not shiny like the scales and had a rubbery look a bit like a dolphin. Her nose was small and flattened with small nostrils and her mouths was so wide it stretched right around to where her jaw bones appeared to join her skulls beneath. Behind the pinkish-grey lips lay two rows of sharp teeth. Her hands were webbed and she had a tail covered in glistening scales of silver.

"What the-" Monette said, confused. "This isn't that bad." At the very least, the room smelled unbearably salty. Colleen could've sworn she smelled fish too.

She scrunched up her nose, not really enjoying the smell. At least it wasn't zombies. Though the mermaid was a little disturbing. She distracted them so much that they hadn't noticed there was an unwelcome guest. 

Colleen was the first to notice the ungodly beast with spikes and sharp teeth staring right at her. "HOLY FU-"

"HELL NO, I LIKE LIVING!" Chelsey screamed, attempting to jump away from it, but was restricted by her safety seatbelt. "WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS THIS HAUNTED HOUSE."

The beast roared in everyone's faces and the lights in the room blacked out. They all screamed at not only the beast, but at the fact that they all couldn't see, for who knows what could happen in the dark.

"SOMETHING' SPIKY'S TOUCHING ME-" Roi shouted, wanting this to be over. "IF WE'RE DOING BAD, I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW EVERYONE ELSE IS DEALING WITH THIS."

"IT'S TOO REAL, MAN. TOO REAL," Jc said, feeling Chelsey trying to find his arm. They zoomed into the next room.

"This is wildly inappropriate," Roi said, covering Monette's eyes. Jc intuitively obscured Teala's, even though she was only a year or so younger than he was. 

They were in a bedroom with sensual red walls and a velvet canopy bed. And the room was full of mannequins in erotic positions.

"Isn't this supposed to be appropriate for all ages?" Chelsey whispered and Colleen answered, "Honey, from those last rooms, I wouldn't have deemed it appropriate for all ages from the first room." 

"Are they trying to arouse people? If so, who would be into this?" Teala asked. "Didn't Joey kiss a mannequin once?" Roi asked.

"He did _what_?" Monette questioned. "Don't make us retell the story," Colleen groaned and she nodded. Once they got into the center, the mannequin heads slowly turned to them. "This is like Pinocchio but Rated-R-" Jc said as an arm reached slowly towards them. They all looked away and simultaneously shuddered as they got into the next room.

There was tea stained counters, dirty tea towels, tea stained mugs, chipped mugs, cracked mugs, odd assortment of cupsl, a slimy draining board, unrinsed dishes, curling linoleum, an a humongous ancient stove, last years calendar askew on a nail and wobbly three legged table. "It's not the witch from Hansel and Gretel is it? Please tell me it's not a cannibal," Monette prayed.

A large woman and her lanky assistant were the actors occupying the room. She gave them a friendly smile, rubbing something onto her white apron. "Aren't you all the most precious things? I love your costumes! So adorable, I could eat you right up!" she cooed sweetly. "Isn't that right, Sampson?"

Jc shrank in his seat. "So... it's a cannibal," he whispered. "Fun. Very fun."

I hate life, he thought.

Ah, they must be in the room they were just in. 

"Isn't that right, Samson?" she repeated, her sweet smile faltering. He didn't answer as she threw the oven door open. "Well?" she demanded.

"I don't think it's a good idea to-"

"SILENCE!" She raised her butcher knife and looked ready to stab him. She swung at him and-

ZOOM!

They all silently prayed that this would be over soon as they entered a second bedroom. The room contained a small bed, two straight-backed chairs, a washstand, a bureau--without any mirror--and a small table. There were no drapery curtains at the dormer windows, no pictures on the wall. There was a girl on the bed in a white dress and crown, convulsing on the bed. There was a priest near the bed, practically screaming a prayer. "Is it just me or does it look like Sierra?" Teala inquired and Chelsey hissed, "Don't make this worse."

They cringed as they got a full view of her neck snapping back, head twisting towards them. Her dark soulless eyes stared back at them and she creeped towards them. "Oh hell no, stay away demonic Sierra!" Colleen screeched.

The possessed girl jumped onto the cart and leaned in so close to Colleen's face, she smacked her away. The girl growled and began reaching out towards her neck. Alarmed, the priest held the cross upside down and they saw that it was a stake.

As she went to go strangle Colleen, the priest stabbed her and she rolled off. "Are we done?" Roi whimpered. "Please tell me we're done," Jc appealed to someone. Anyone. They sped towards darkness.

"We're not done?" Chelsey whined into the darkness. Colleen heard maniacal laughter and growls. And they slowly got louder. And louder. And louder. Until it thundered in her ears, replacing the sound of her heart beating in her chest.

The sounds nearly drove her mad. And then it stopped. And was replaced with eerie silence. Then the lights turned on, revealing funhouse mirrors.

And she didn't see her own reflection. She saw clowns. 

And not only did she see clowns. She saw that they were sitting in the seat that her friends were supposed to be in, dangerously close to her. She let out a cry, on the verge of tears. Colleen wanted to get out of the ride and end this nightmare, but the seat-belts were too tight. 

Then, a blue-grayish skined goat looking guy appeared in the mirrors. Goat looking because of the two horns that came out of his head. His dark hair was unkempt and messy. A bright blue crystal was in the smack center of his chest. 

He only grinned sinisterly, sending more chills down her spine than if he had laughed or spoken to her, his silence somehow more hellacious.

And then it went dark again and she heard the laughter quiet down, the voices gone for the most part. Except for one voice, the laughter cruel and mocking. Definitely coming from a male.

Then it was gone. 

Colleen wondered what was coming next, feeling a terrified tear slip down her cheek. Then the lights flickered back on and she saw her friends again, relieved. And her own reflection. There were a few holographic ghosts too.

They finally saw the outside world again and as soon as an operator released them, Teala immediately scrambled out of the car running for her life. Jc and Chelsey followed, overjoyed to be out of that place. The other three lingered behind, seeing Safiya, Tyler and Manny talking with another operator stationed there. 

Manny looked pissed. Safiya was crying. And Tyler looked scarred.

Colleen just left, wanting to get the heck out of there.

~~~

"Sir, I'm just requesting you that you should have put a warning for parents and younger children. The ride was highly inappropriate," Tyler said calmly, trying to comfort Safiya. "What do you mean? The ride is appropriate for all ages?"

Manny couldn't take it anymore and shoved Tyler out of the way and yelled, "THERE WERE MANNEQUINS IN SEXUAL POSITIONS, WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S APPROPRIATE FOR ALL AGES?"

Colleen jumped at his tone. The employee looked confused. "Mannequins? In sexual positions? Sir, we didn't have any mannequins on the ride."

"WHAT ABOUT THE ZOMBIES? THE GINGERBREAD WOMAN? THOSE WOULD'VE GIVEN THE YOUNGER CHILDREN NIGHTMARES FOR DAYS IF NOT WEEKS."

"Those were cardboard cut-outs. Sir, are you sure you three aren't high or anything?" 

Manny looked baffled. "CARD-BOARD- THOSE WERE LIVE FRICKIN ACTORS. I DON'T SMOKE WEED. AND DO I LOOK DRUNK TO YOU?"

"Sir, I think you're just imagining things, the ride wasn't even that scary," the operator insisted. "Are you sure you're alright? Do I need to call the hospital or anything?" 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WASN'T THAT SCARY?" Manny screeched and Safiya tugged on his arm. "I think that's enough Manny, they have to do their job. Let's talk about it later," she begged and he eventually agreed, letting his friend drag him away. The couple and third-wheeler gave each other strange looks. 

"You guys saw what I saw right?" Safiya asked and they nodded."So why... did the operator lie?"

Tyler responded, "If I'm being honest, I think he was telling the truth as Manny harassed him."

"So are you saying that we're insane?" Manny asked and he shook his head slowly. "But then what other explanation could there be?" his girlfriend pressed and they all exchanged worried looks. "That was definitely real... right? If I saw it and you saw it..." 

"Unless it's some hoodoo-voodoo dark magic? What is this 'The Handsomest Drowned Man in The World?'" Safiya stared at him. "That has got to be the weirdest connection you've made yet. And magic isn't real... at least, I don't think it is."

"Look, it was weird, but can we all talk about it tomorrow? Or the day after?" Tyler pleaded. "It's been a long day." Safiya and Manny exchanged glances and nodded. "Yeah, I gotta go to the record shop tomorrow morning anyway. Good night. Stay safe," Manny said as he waved goodbye.

"We will," Safiya answered and she kissed Tyler quickly on the cheek as their fingers laced together. "C'mon, let's go home."

They didn't notice someone following them, grinning as they left the carnival behind, eyeing the female counterpart. The crystal in his chest glowing as his eyes trailed them.

The Carnival Master grinned and cooed, "We're going to have so much fun, aren't we?"

A wind picked up and started blowing through the grounds passionately. scattering the fall leaves in the nearby trees. And he disappeared with the wind, as if the colorful leaves took him with them.

In the eye of a hurricane there is always quiet, a yellow sky. All we can do now is wait for it.

~~~


	4. On the Road to Hell, It's a Sad Song

~~~

**October 30th, 1978**

**10 pm**

~~~

In every direction there was a star, should Jc fly into the universe any way would be the right way. He tilted his head, gazing upward, eyes more open than they can be in the fullness of day, not looking at one star, yet somehow seeing them all at once.

Sequin-silver stars like the scattered embers of a dying fire winked down at him, illuminating the atramentous curtain of sky.

He leaned against the willow, relishing the silence. Today had been quite the interesting day. The tranquility was a nice change of pace.

"Mind if I join you?" a female voice requested and he jumped, snapping his head in the direction of where it came from, recognizing the voice.

"Of course Safiya," he answered, scooting over so she could sit on the grass. She sat next to him and remarked half-jokingly,"You don't look too happy to see your favorite person in the world."

His eyes slid to her. "You are _far_ from being my favorite person." She scoffed, aggrieved and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Where are your manners, Justin? How dare you say such a thing to your best friend?"

He rolled his eyes. "What brings you out here so late at night?"

She deadpanned. "I could ask you the same thing, Pasta-head." Jc gave her a weird look at the peculiar nickname.

"I just needed some fresh air, that's all," she explained, wrapping her jacket around tightly.

"Was it because of the haunted house?"

"Partly. I've got a lot on my mind." He waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't, changing the topic. "Look, it's Cancer and Virgo." She pointed at the sky. "Our star signs. Apparently our signs are the most compatible together." He scrunched his nose. "Gross. I'd never date you."

"Right back at you, Caylen. Though I do recall having a crush on you way back in what... freshman or sophomore year of high school?" Jc looked gobsmacked. "You what-" She nodded. "Yes. It was back when I had horrible taste in guys."

"Okay damn, no need to be so impolite about it." He went back to their original topic. "You really got the short end of the stick when it comes to zodiac names."

"Right? But we got the best end of the stick when it comes to symbols, it's basically a 69." He snorted, elbowing her. "Very mature of you, Safiya."

"You know I have raunchy humor Jc, I can't help it."

"Least you're not hypersexual all the time like Nikita." She laughed and joked, "Or am I?" Jc turned his head and exclaimed, "Safiya!" This caused her to laugh even harder.

And eventually, he was laughing along with her. After chatting mindlessly for a while, eventually Safiya said, "I should head home, Tyler's probably still up waiting for me. See you tomorrow night Jc?"

He waved goodbye to her as she stood up and brushed the grass of her pants. "See you. Good night, Safiya."

"Good night Jc. And get back to your roommates, it's late."

"Okay mother." She rolled her eyes and disappeared down the sidewalk and he watched her disappear into her apartment building at the end of the street. He took a deep breath and got up, heading in the other direction towards his own neighborhood.

~~~

**October 31st, 1978**

**8:45 pm**

~~~

Early the next morning, Colleen was in the dance studio, dancing the morning away. When Colleen heard the music it was like liquid adrenaline being injected right into her blood stream- not so strong as to freak her out, but just enough to make her tingle and start to move her body.

Colleen grew up in a household of women who danced. There was never a day that went by without her mother or an aunt or a sister or a cousin taking her by the hands to waltz or boogie around the room. Music was on from first light to last. In a way it flowed through them and between them, creating bonds stronger than the walls of the temple. Every time she heard those old tunes in the years to come she was dancing again, dancing with those women who loved her more than the rising sun.

Now, just turned twenty-two, she was a well oiled machine on the dance floor. She didn't dance to show off, to make the boys watch - but they did. Anyone that could move like their limbs were half liquid in perfect rhythm and still look strong were interesting to say the least. She was used to the attention and she liked it.

The reason why she came so early in the morning was to distract herself from thinking about last night, knowing that she'd let that stupid haunted house would haunt her mind endlessly. That place was absolutely terrifying. Yet when she tried to talk to her siblings about it (they had also been present) they gave her a confused look, leaving Colleen to believe that she had imagined it.

But the others had seen the same thing... it couldn't be just her imagination going in overdrive. There had to be another elucidation. Exhaling, Colleen forced herself to not give it another investigation and went over to her cassette player.

Turning off the music, she plucked the cassette out of the player, smiling at the words 'Dancing Queen' written on it. Rosanna had given it to her for her birthday, running her fingers through sweat-soaked hair. Speaking of Rosanna, Colleen needed to do something with her.

She mumbled, "I should head home, I promised Ro I'd help her bake some things for the party."

Glancing at her duffle bag that she left on the door, she hoisted it over her shoulder and debated whether or not she should take a shower before heading to Ro's. In the end she decided, "I'll just take a shower at Ro's."

Colleen closed the dance studio with her key and headed out.

~~~

**9:15 am**

~~~

Nikita roller skated through the lanes, speeding up a little as she noticed that no one seemed to be out. It was a little surprising, given it was Halloween, but Everlock was normally a sleepy town anyway. She was planning on going on an impromptu shopping spree because well... she was bored. And Manny was busy working at the record store, so Nikita wanted kept herself company with her favorite hobby: partaking in capitalism.

Nikita loved shopping. She basked in the attention of the sales staff and pawed over different fabrics and textures. She would try on new boots and hats, get a free make-over and then head to the spa for a manicure. The garments she brought home would often never be worn or maybe worn once.

Spotting a familiar friend wearing a red, white and blue fringed jacket on a motorbike, she recognized him immediately, calling his name. "Hey Roi! What's up, dude?" She skated over and held onto a lampost. He noticed, stopping his bike. "Hey! Where you headed?"

"The plaza," Nikita answered simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Wanted to go shopping. You?"

"I was planning on taking Monette out for lunch." He motioned towards the extra helmet he had. "We wanted to spend Halloween night together, but she has a shift at Fatman's Slims, so instead we're going for lunch."

"Ah, I see. Well have fun. Bye Roi."

"Bye." She waved and he was off again, turning into a tiny speck in the distance. Going back to what she had set out to do, Nikita eventually made it to the plaza. A wide variety of shops lined the plaza: antique and art stalls, jewelry and accessory shops, luxury boutiques, souvenir kiosks (though there were never tourists in Everlock) and stores selling leather goods.

Skating past a store window, she quickly stopped herself, the mannequin catching her eye. It was a hot pink mini dress with a keyhole in the chest. "Guess I found my outfit for tonight," she declared to herself, skating in as she eyed the other stores down the street, spotting the salon she often visited.

The salon was a long shop on the high street, comfy in the way caves are. It felt so wonderful it sit in there and be absorbed into its ambiance for a while. It was a holiday being there, perhaps for only thirty minutes or an hour, but a holiday it was. The salon had soul. It was what you get when a personality as loud as mama Rosa makes her stamp on the world of style. She was the salon. Everyone who went in there was one of her honorary children. They were fussed over, cosseted. It felt amazing, some place you could go to and walk out of a better person.

_Note to self: stop by the salon to pay Rosa a visit_

And with that she went into the store.

~~~

**9:30 am**

~~~

Dappled sunlight trickles onto the cream-coloured work surface from between the leaves of lovingly tended plants sitting along the length of the windowsill in their decorative ceramic pots. The gleaming stainless steel sink below reflects the autumn light into the room. Squashed into the corner by the door is a small rectangular table bordered by bench seating. Underneath the table sits the family dog's blanket-lined bed, pushed against the wall, away from the human feet which dangle near it whenever the kitchen is buzzing with life.

Large pale floor tiles and dark brown wooden cupboards, with handles designed to look like old-fashioned brass keys in ornate locks, create the perfect country-style kitchen especially now the wood is slightly worn in places. Along the back wall a washing machine and dishwasher are tidily hidden from view behind matching wooden cupboard doors. Opposite the window is a large gas cooker, with an oven more than big enough to cook a roast dinner for the family and their friends. And in the center of it all was a petite brunette baking, making a mess of the kitchen.

To Rosanna, baking was to find her peace. In the chaos of creation comes order; from raw ingredients comes something of beauty. No matter the troubles that swirled in the grey cloud or lingered in the winter-chilled grass, the kitchen held the keys to serenity. Where else can you create and know what you make will be so loved by the ones you adore most? She knows there are those who see it as silly, less worthy than almost every other thing she could do. She perked up and turned her attention from her baking when she heard a doorbell ring, followed by a knock.

"Coming!" she shouted, wiping her hands on her apron. Opening the door, she was met with a smiling brunette. "Hey Ro!" Colleen greeted her and she pulled the little muffin into a hug. "Hey Colleen. Did you stop by the studio today?"

"Yeah, I did. Do you mind if I use your shower? I was going to stop by my house, but I didn't want to keep you waiting." Rosanna opened the door wider and motioned for her to come in. "Go ahead! Use the my bathroom upstairs, you know where it is."

"Thank you so much!" She walked in and headed up the stairs before Ro closed the door, heading back to the kitchen. Rosanna looked at the mess she already made and laughed to herself. "This will be a pain to clean," she said to herself. "Oh well, at least I get to make my famous Halloween cookies."

Molly, her sister, now occupied the kitchen as well and commented, "You really are the messiest baker, Ro. My gosh it's a disaster in here."

"Shut up, Mo, who gave you the right to bully me?"

"It comes with being your sister." She glared at her younger sister. "No cookies for you then."

Mo stuck out her tongue childishly. "You're mean."

"I'm not mean! I'm never mean. I'm an angel, what are you talking about?" Mo gave her an unconvinced look. "Mhmm. Sure. Every good person has a dark side, Ro and you know you have one."

Rosanna flinched as Molly skipped into the living room, turning on the TV and plopping onto the couch. "I don't have a dark side, I don't know what you're talking about," she said, picking up her whisk.

"Sure you don't," Mo answered, not even glancing in her direction as she changed the channel.

~~~

**5:35 pm**

~~~

Matt heard the sink running again and raised an eyebrow, deciding to walk into the bathroom to see what was up.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright, Steph?" Matt perturbed, putting a hand on her forehead. "I'm alright, it's probably just the stomach flu from all of the puking I'm doing," Stephanie claimed, taking the toothbrush out of her mouth. "I can stay home, I don't have to go." She shook her head.

"No, no, I don't want to thwart your plans for tonight, Matt. It's Halloween, you should be out having fun with your friends. I'll be okay. Besides, didn't you promise Ro you'd take her there?"

"She can hitch a ride from Manny, he has plenty of room in his van," Matt riposted. "You're more important than some party."

"Just go Matt, enjoy the time you have with your friends. Y'all don't hang out too much anymore since we're so busy all the time. I'll be okay, if something's wrong, I can call my parents."

"You sure?"

Stephanie folded her arms across her chest. "Yes."

"Positive?"

She looked irritated at this point. "Yes, Matthew. Now go." She practically shoved him out of the bathroom and he sighed, "You're impossible, Steph." She slammed the door and he jumped, grabbing his sunglasses and headed out the door, knowing he couldn't argue.

Matt glanced at his watch. "Perfect timing, I have just enough time to pick up Ro." Sliding his sunglasses onto his face, he stepped into the station wagon and turned on the engine, the radio humming quietly in the background

~~~

**6 pm**

"You've got to be kidding right now Tea," Manny groaned, banging his head against the wheel. "I'm not. Now drive, it's on the way to Colleen's anyway and I didn't bring my cooler for decor," she answered, sitting in the passenger seat this time.

Let's just say Teala now had an aversion for backseats now after yesterday's fiasco. And insisted on not hitching a hike from Manny, but he said he wasn't gonna let her walk all across town by herself. And that was that.

Manny's shoulders slumped. "Fine, we'll go to the liquor store. Buckle up and let's not get my van window broken this time."The two looked at the window in the backseat that was now as good as new. He had it fixed this morning, still pissed that it got broken in the first place.

"I can't believe Joey rented a haunted house for this party, I thought we left this paranormal Scooby-Doo stuff back in high school," Manny opined, making a left. "Wait, it's haunted? Joey didn't tell me that." Teala looked nervous all of a sudden.

"Yeah, didn't you know that house is infamous for being haunted? No one knows the story though, most pass it off as a tall tale. Which, to be fair, could be true. When we were into that, half of the time we found nothing at all." Which was demoralizing to say the least.

"Yeah... ghosts were fun when we were younger. But... I guess when you start losing people, you don't want them to be stuck here, right? Not seen, not heard, as if they don't exist. The people they loved start remembering them a little less every day, until eventually, they're forgotten. It's a horrible fate," Teala agreed. "I wouldn't want that to be me. But I guess I got time, right? I shouldn't worry about death quite yet."

"Well, you never know. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow, we just assume that it'll come. Which is why I always say, 'Live life to the fullest and tell your loved ones you love them'. You don't know when it will be the last time." She goggled at her friend. "Since when did we become so philosophical?"

"Since we started hanging out with those nerds, Tea. Their smartness rubs off after a while and they lend us dumbasses a few brain cells." The two snickered, exchanging grins full of mirth.

Pulling up to the liquor store, they unbuckled their seatbelts and Teala said, "Let's make this Halloween party much more fun."

"Time to measure sidewalks upside down," he cracked and they high-fived, opening the door. "Let's see if we can get Ro wasted for once in her life."

"That's actually a genius idea." He laughed and mocked flipping his hair over his shoulder. "I try. Wish I had longer hair to flip over my shoulder." She snorted as they walked in.

~~~

**6:20 pm**

~~~

Joey was waiting on the doorstep of the house, chilling in his cream and red striped polo and dark red pants, fiddling with his ascot. As he waited, he hoped no one was high yet. That would make an... interesting start to his Halloween evening.

Though he wouldn't put it past his friends, if he was truthful. Joey never knew what to expect of them. They were a wild circus waiting to happen. All they needed a few tents and clown costumes.

Speaking of his friends, he saw an orange van he knew all too well driving towards him. He stood up from the concrete and went to go greet them. "Hey guys!" he shouted, his arm moving to and fro. "Glad you could make it!"

Teala got out of the front seat, sporting a rose gold jump suit and a red jacket over it, the heeled boots she wore on her feet gave her a little boost in height. Her wavy black hair was out of her usual ponytail and was flowing freely. She tried to open the back door for whoever was sitting in the back, but struggled, yanking the door.

"Seriously?" she groaned, pulling at it again. It didn't open. Joey held in his laughter as he held up the camera he brought, filming it.

"Girl, you better not break the door handle," Manny reprimanded, turning off the car engine. Finally, she got the door open and Colleen stumbled out, wearing something a little more extra than she normally would. From the sparkly crop top and matching flare pants to her dangling gold jewelry and fuzzy coat, Colleen radiated bad b*tch energy. Which he loved, the girl was always up for a little sassing.

Manny finally got out of the driver's seat, donning a green tracksuit and mint turtleneck underneath. His usual gold chain and rings were also present in the outfit and it seemed he decided to sport some translucent sunglasses as well.

"Did you film that entire thing?" Teala asked, looking embarrassed when she saw the camera.

He smiled crudely. "Yes."

"Joey!" Her cheeks turned a bright red and he couldn't contain his amusement anymore, starting to roar with laughter and teased, "Ladies and gentlemen, Teala Dunn, who can't open a van door."

"Not funny, Joey. Not funny." She shoved him and he stumbled a little, taken aback. Colleen and Manny meanwhile, hauled out a cooler. "What's in there?" Joey inquired and Manny arched an eyebrow. "If we contributed to this party, what do you think? Ay, you really are _estúpido_ sometimes." He rolled his eyes and argued, "I was just asking, jeez. Do you at least have some non-alcoholic drinks?"

"Don't fret, I was the adult and took some from home," Colleen ascertained. "Unlike the other two."

"Hey!" Teala and Manny chorused in unison. "La audacia!" the latter gasped. She overlooked them and continued, "I also ordered pizza, it should come in a little bit."

"'Sup fellow humans,"a male voice shouted and they all turned in the direction of the voice. "Happy Halloween you devils. What do you have up your sleeve this year?"

Then came the hippie of the group, skateboarding down the street and holding up a peace sign. He had chosen to wear to the occasion a white shirt with a reddish pattern in the middle of it under a light tan jacket with an orange pattern. He also had his usual patched up jeans on.

"Excuse you, I'm an absolute angel, what are you talking about?" Joey scoffed and Jc answered, "Please Joey, you'd send Lucifer packing from Hell." His jaw dropped and said, "You are a rude little boy."

Jc stuck his tongue out at Joey. "Least I'm not trying to be a knock-off Fred."

"You were the one who dressed up as Shaggy!"

"I dressed up as the better character!"

"ENOUGH, YOU APES COULD YOU PLEASE STOP ARGUING LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN. IT'S LIKE WATCHING TWO SEALS FIGHTING FOR THE SAME SPOT UNDER THE ICE FOR AIR!" Manny bellowed.

Teala, deciding to move on, asked Jc, "No one else is with you?" He shook his head and answered, "Nope, just me, myself and I. Unless I have a stalker I don't know about."

Just then, they all heard a booming roar down the street and jumped, finding Roi in white flare pants and a white blue chevron shirt. He also had his classic patriotic fringed jacket on and luckily this time, he had a helmet. They all remembered the time Roi nearly died when he didn't wear a helmet (don't ask what happened).

"Here comes the chaos," Teala mumbled. "Thought it arrived when Jc did because we all thought he'd be high as a kite,"Manny answered, overhearing. "Hey," Jc said, offended. "That's not nice."

"In my defense, you make your worst decisions when high," Manny justified. "I've also made my best decisions when high," Jc averred, getting off his skateboard and carrying it in the crook of his arm.

"Hey guys!" Roi chirped, parking his motorbike. "Don't you think your bike's gonna get stolen if you park it here?" Colleen inquired, pointing to his bike. Roi took one look at his bike and shrugged. "Nah, this part of town's pretty empty, only person I can think of that will steal it is Mortimer, but he's out of town for some reason. Or Cindy, but she's in the hospital slowly dying, poor thing."

Teala tensed up.

"So I think Mr. Bike here will be okay." He patted the motorbike and hopped off. "Happy Halloween by the way, guys. Let's just hope today isn't as chaotic as yesterday."

"It's just the ten of us what could possibly go wrong?" Joey asked half-jokingly and the others laughed. "Speaking of yesterday, didn't you find the haunted house a little...odd?" Teala questioned.

"I wouldn't call it odd, it scared the daylights out of me." Manny murmured, "The operator said that he had no clue what I was talking about when I told him about the ride... like I was insane or something." Colleen chimed, "Same thing happened to me. I wanted to talk to my sister about it but she said she had no idea what I was talking about. She claimed the haunted house was fine. Boring but fine."

"Is this some sort of joke?" Joey asked. "There was no way we imagined that if we all saw it. Even Calliope looked at me strangely earlier when I asked her about it and Calliope is well... Calliope-"

Roi raised an eyebrow. "What did she say?"

"Well..."

_Joey was riding his station wagon near the hill where he could only describe as 'where middle-aged single ladies usually lived in for some reason' when he passed by a former teacher of his, Calliope's house. The house was long and narrow, perhaps only twelve feet wide at the front, but it stretched some thirty feet back like a giant shoe box. It was two stories high and had a one story extension at the rear for the kitchen. Its hair was a green ivy, swamping it in a green façade._

_Calliope was a huge gardener, treating her plants like her children, for she had none. Grass trimmed short between rectangular beds. Aromatic leaves, air scented by blossoms, tiny green leaves of the thyme, rosemary with dark green leaves and white central stripe growing on woody stems, sprawling oregano with it's sweet pungent smell, mint in its clay pot reaching for the sun, chives growing like grass with their round purple flowers on tall stems, basil waves gaily in the autumn breeze right next to the garlic to keep the aphids at bay. The owner of the house was sitting on her rocking chair, reading a book. A bowl of candy was next to her, presumably for the children that would pass by later on that night. She wore a gypsy costume, a purple shawl around her shoulders. He stopped the car so he could say hi._

_She must have sensed Joey's presence and looked up, a warm smile on her face. "Hello there, Joey. How are you?"_

_"Well...not that great, if I'm being upfront. The haunted house kind of shook me up a little." She gave him a quizzical look. "Haunted house? My dear child, I don't recall the haunted house being that scary. It was rather sad."_

_"You don't remember the zombies, vampires, the exorcisms, a goat-looking man with a blue crystal implanted his chest in the funhouse mirrors..." He trailed off when Calliope gave him a dark look, so unusual from her cheerful expression. He could've sworn her eyes darkened a shade._

_"Nicholas..." she whispered, so quietly he wasn't sure he was supposed to hear that. "Who?" Joey questioned, not knowing a Nicholas. And he knew a lot of people in this town._

_"Nothing important you should know, child. All you need to know is that what you saw is very dangerous so be careful, alright? Just... beware of those who can sneak up on you." Joey tilted his head to the side. "How does this have anything to do with this 'Nicholas', I don't understand..."_

_Calliope didn't answer, going back into her house and muttering something incoherent. She slammed the door, locking it behind her and Joey blinked, befuddled._

_"What the frickity frack just happened?"_

"She was more strange than usual and that's saying something," Joey said and the group gave each other flabbergasted looks. "Who's Nicholas?" Manny asked. "Isn't it a little too early for Santa to be coming to town?"

"She was probably talking about that goat-man who has a terrible fashion sense you dolt," Colleen corrected him. "What does she mean by 'beware of those who can sneak up on you,' thieves? Robbers?"

"This sounds a whole lot more than just some petty thievery, Colleen. It sounds more like... I don't know, a life-and-death situation? Calliope seems to knows who Nicholas is. But what does that have to do with what we saw in the haunted house?" Roi pointed out, frowning. "Maybe we should investigate tomorrow... let's just enjoy tonight, okay?" Jc requested and the others agreed, dropping the subject. "I think it's best to talk about it when everyone is together. Plus, it's Halloween. Let's have fun and chill out."

"What are y'all gossiping about?" Nikita asked, skating on over, platinum blonde hair (read: wig) in a bouffant hairstyle. You know what they say, the higher the hair, the closer to God.

"Nothing really, just small talk," Teala lied for the group, not wanting to talk about what they were talking about any longer. She didn't seem to buy it, but let it go.

"Is this going to be one of those cool parties where things get out of control, when we accidentally murder someone and then we all have to take a blood oath to never reveal our secret?" she asked casually and Joey's eyes widened. "What? No!"

Nikita smirked. "Then I might have to leave early then." Colleen laughed nervously. "I don't think we want to murder anybody, especially since you broke your nails while drunk last year and completely lost it."

"Do you know how long it takes for your nails to grow back?" Nikita fired back. "Which is why I've worn reinforced acrylics ever since. Good for those who trespass me because I can scratch those mother truckers."

The group cracked up as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, inspecting her nails. "By the way Manny, are my boots still in your van? I didn't bring shoes," Nikita said, motioning towards her roller skates.

Manny tossed her the keys and answered, "They should be. Go check." Nikita caught them and went to the van, searching for her boots. "Don't scratch my baby with your nails, Kita," he joked and she rolled her eyes, but smiled.

After chatting for a minute or so, a blue station wagon arrived, revealing the soul siblings, Matpat and Ro. As soon as the former got out of the car, he took out his sunglasses, putting them on his head, modeling his customary nerdy detective style. They all knew that once he graduated from college in about eight or so months that he'd try to give the town sheriff a run for his money. He was dressed up in his light yellow dress shirt and yellow tie, an orange leather jacket over it and green plaid pants.

His counterpart Rosanna, on the other hand, wore a blue plaid dress with a slightly oversized green coat. A cute yellow beret sat on the top of her wavy brown hair. She waved at them and ran over to engulf them all in a hug. "Hi guys!"

"Hey, glad you could make it," Joey answered as she hugged him. "Of course, we wouldn't miss it! Our Halloweens together are always a blast!"

"Not when chaos ensues," Matt muttered and Rosanna elbowed him in the ribs, throwing him a look. "Chillax Matt, you aren't going to live life if you don't have some fun every once in a while."

"I wouldn't call driving all you drunk fellas home 'fun'. Have you seen how crazy they get when drunk? That's saying something especially when we're all sober."

"Hey," Roi defended, a little offended. "We're not that chaotic..."

"Most of the time," Jc mumbled and Manny smacked him in the back of the head. "Not helping our case with the next Sherlock Holmes, Jc."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Just because everyone knows I'm gonna try to give the town sheriff a run for his money, but that doesn't automatically make me Sherlock Holmes."

"Dude, you're literally a genius, what are you talking about?" Colleen scoffed, incredulous. "I got rejected from Duke," Matt reminded her. "So? You don't need those douchebags."

Right then, Safiya decided to arrive on her white bike, dressed in _color_.

Joey rubbed his eyes just to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. And she was indeed wearing a red turtleneck, flared jeans and a brown aviator jacket and sunglasses. "The Morticia Addams is wearing color? Is this the end of the world as we know it if our resident diet goth is wearing such an outfit?" Matt joked as she came closer to the house. "Shut up Matthew, I had a meeting for something."

"For what, being an investigative reporter?" Jc teased and she rolled her eyes. " _No_ , you hippie. What are y'all up to? Waiting for me, I'm presuming?"

"Talking about how I got rejected from Duke," Matt answered and Safiya laughed, "Join the 'I Got Rejected From An Elite School' Club." The two friends fists bumped and Rosanna's smile tightened.

"Let's start our annual Halloween scary venture, shall we?" Joey asked and Safiya groaned. "Didn't we have enough spooky yesterday?"

"C'mon Safiya, it's not even going to be that bad. It's only _possibly_ haunted." Her eyes widened and she gasped, "Joseph, I swear-"

He merely laughed and led the group inside. "Happy Halloween courtesy of your neighborhood serial killer," Joey quipped, tipping a invisible hat. They all chuckled and followed him inside.

"Eh?" Joey asked as they looked around, opening the door for them to head inside. Dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, pristine dust layer, not a foot print anywhere, dust bunnies the size of bowling balls tumbled across the floor boards toward unseen skittles, free papers piled up to the letter box and cascaded all the way to the foot of the rough wooden stairs, old tea cups lay on a coffee table thickly encrusted with dried up mold, dust covered mirrors, smell of mildew, stale air, air thick with dust, shafts of light bursting through gaps in the boarded up window, light streaming through the gaps in the heavy velvet curtains, absolute silence, not even the hum of a refrigerator, the houses only occupants weaved their webs between the spindles of the stair banisters and from the ceiling to the wall, old cobwebs billowed in the draft.

Nikita raised an eyebrow, examining the house. "I was expecting something a little less..."

"Sad? Desolate? Tragic?" Safiya finished for her, putting her hands in her pocket. "Tragic," Nikita echoed, spinning on her heel. "Remind me why you chose this place, of all places? We could've hung out at my house, you know."

"Look for ghosts," Joey replied, lifting his camera. "Don't be so negative about this place, guys. We haven't even been inside for a solid five minutes.This is the perfect Halloween thing to do."

Rosanna huddled closer to Matpat. "I don't like the sound of that," she whispered. "You sure this is a good idea, Joey? I mean... this house could be exactly what Calliope is talking about when she says 'be careful',"Colleen pointed out. "Honey, this is just bad hosting," Manny whispered.

"I'm not sure if Calliope really believes in ghosts. She believes in spirits. Two different things," Joey argued, finding a way to turn on the lights. It gave a dim light, but it will do. "And besides, what kind of ghost looks like a goat? I'm sure she meant be wary of Nicholas and Nicholas sounds like someone who's you know...alive."

"And looks like a goat?" Teala inquired, dubious of what her friend was saying. Joey sighed and pleaded, "Can I tell the story of this place at the very least?"

"Let's see how 'sinister' it is," Manny answered sarcastically, imitating quotation marks on the word 'sinister'. Joey walked over to the piano and began ominously, "It was the year 1890."

"Gee, the Victorian era is so terrifying," Jc interrupted sarcastically and Joey threw him a look and he shut up. "10 friends gathered at this very house and played a game of Truth or Dare..." He striked the piano keys.

"The 1800s were really tragic, weren't they?" Matt commented and Joey ignored him and continued, "Indeed, it was tragic. For what started as an innocent game ended in tragedy and loss of life."

"Oh?" Safiya intoned. "So you're saying... people died here?" She looked agitated at the thought of hearing that people died in this very place.

He nodded. "Yes. Legend says that there was a vengeful spirit who lived here. The spirit punished people for the dark shades of their soul, daring them to face their darkest sins and deepest fears."

Rosanna frowned, not liking this story at all. Even if it was a little tale to frighten her. "One by one, players were picked off, dying in terrible, gruesome deaths. Only one remained and was non compos mentis. The mysterious survivor was sent to a mental asylum and was never seen again. Likely died as well, unable to live with what had happened." The lights flickered and Roi jumped, admittedly a little spooked.

The friends were all silent for a while, not sure what to make of the story. "That's dumb," Nikita finally said, the others murmuring agreement and Joey scowled. "What do you suppose we do in this house of lame Joey, play Truth or Dare? What are we, horny, immature teenagers?"

As soon as Nikita finished her sentence, the doorbell rang. All eyes fell to Colleen and she sighed and said, "Fine, I'll get the door."

~~~

The evening seemed started off as a chill and normal one, seeming less like a spooky holiday and more like a weekend hangout with friends.

And then Joey insisted on playing Truth or Dare because he wanted to see if the ghost was real and they all begrudgingly agreed so that he would shut up. "Please, for the love of all things holy, don't do anything sexual. I'm looking at you Nikita and Manny," he urged, pulling out a pile of index cards and a few writing utensils he had brought with him.

"Well then that's not fun," Nikita grumped and Matt pointed out, "About half of us are taken, Nikita."

She looked unbothered and shrugged. "So?"

"I'm getting _married."_

"You ain't special honey, I have a feeling your fiancee isn't going to be the only one walking down that aisle." Nikita took a swig of her beer and everyone stared at her. "What? Whoever it is, I call dibs on Maid of Honor so I can ruin your wedding."

Safiya blinked, jaw dropping, then she pursed her lips. "Let's all just pretend where that comment was aimed at," Rosanna suggested, surprisingly having a drink as well. Maybe it was the spirit of Halloween that made her loosen up a little. Everyone can have a little fun every once in a while, right?

"I mean it, Nikita. _Nothing sexual,_ " Joey warned. She pouted, crossing her arms. "Truth or dare isn't fun without it."

"I'm sure you can have fun with Truth or Dare without knowing what everybody's _private needs_ are."

She rolled her eyes and picked up a sharpie, taking the cap off. "I'm hoping no one has any dares that have to do with heights. I'm not exactly a fan of heights," Roi confessed. "You're literally a carefree daredevil and you don't like heights?" Colleen asked, shocked. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Speaking of daredevils, nothing illegal or anything that could result in injuries either," Joey declared and Nikita groaned. "Now you're really being a buzzkill."

"I'm just setting boundaries here. I don't want to cause relationship problems nor do I want anybody sitting in jail because then I'd have to bail you out and I don't want to spend money on y'all. I also don't want another trip to the hospital because Roi broke his arm or something."

"Hey," Roi interjected, offended.

He tilted his head in his friend's direction. "I was just using you as an example."

"A very accurate example that totally hasn't happened before," Teala chimed and Roi gave her a death stare. She beamed back at him.

Jc snorted and cut in between everybody before an argument broke out. "Alright, alright, can we start? I'd like to get this over with and prove Joey wrong."

The boy mentioned scoffed.

~~~

Somehow, Safiya ended up going first and read the card. "Spin the bottle. Really now? I thought we'd gone over the 'no sexual dares' territory." She shook her head in dissent. "Why Manny?"

"How'd you know it was me?" he squeaked.

"It's in your handwriting," she answered as if it was the most evident thing in the world.

"Okay fine, you caught me. But little kiss isn't _sexual,_ it's only a little _sensual,"_ Manny retorted. "One kiss. Doesn't mean anything."

Safiya rolled her eyes. "Fine. If I refuse and change to truth, it'll be even worse and far more mortifying." Finishing her beer, she used the bottle as the Bottle of Fortune. The others squirmed, not really wanting to see what will follow.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered, spinning the bottle. It spun in circles like a spinning top, going round and round. It slowed down, passing Colleen...Matt...Rosanna...

And landed on Jc.

"Oh thank goodness," Rosanna exhaled, grateful. "I'd rather go into a zombie apocalypse, not gonna lie." The others giggled, enjoying themselves. Safiya glared at the brunette and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing. I'm so sorry Jc."

"It's cool," Jc replied, shrugging his shoulders. "This isn't the worst dare I've been on the receiving end of." Safiya laughed and muttered, "I'm so sorry Tyler and Chelsey," before leaning over to press her lips against his. "I can't believe this is happening," Matt remarked, weirded out.

After a few seconds, they broke apart and cringed. "Never again," Jc shuddered. "Now I'm going to have nightmares about this. Thanks so much."

"Agreed. Let's pretend this never happened."

They moved on, the game seeming harmless. Nothing happened after that dare. "See Joey? There aren't any ghosts here. You would think that we summoned something after... _that_ ," Teala reported.

Sentiment echoed as Rosanna flipped over the next card, skimming its contents. Her expression darkened and paled, trembling. "I'm not playing this card," she stated, ready to rip it to shreds. They looked astounded, for Rosanna was usually a good sport about these kinds of games.

Joey took it from Rosanna, feeling bad and read it out loud, not knowing what was written on it. "Did you fake college rejection letters for Safiya and Matt?" His face fell, stopping and he gaped at Rosanna. "Ro? Is this true?"

Matt and Safiya exchanged confused glances, frowning. Neither spoke, incredulous. The qustion had to be a lie, right? It was ridiculous even thinking about it.

Her eyes widened. "Of course not! I didn't- I didn't do such a thing. Why... why would you ask that? Who wrote that?" Rosanna jumped to her own defense, upset. They all looked at each other. No one would've asked such a question, they knew the limits. This game was supposed to be lighthearted and fun not... exploitive. And it would've never even cross their minds that the cinnamon roll would do such a thing.

But yet... her lie was all they needed to know that the card was legitimate. No one said anything for a while. Safiya looked betrayed. "How could you do this to me?" she whispered to Rosanna, who couldn't meet her eyes. "To us?" Betrayal quickly turned to indignation.

"You're my best friend, my soul sisterwhat the actual hell, Rosanna? I trusted you with my life and you go and do this to me?" Matt cried, outraged. Her friend burst into tears, guilt overwhelming her. "I'm sorry-"

"Sorry? You're _sorry?"_ he barked. "If you were sorry, you would've told me!"

"I didn't want to lose my best friend! I didn't want to lose a part of my life that was so important me." He stared at her. "By doing that, you just lost me." Matt stormed off and they all expected him to leave the house, but instead, he wandered off to who knows where.

Safiya peered at Rosanna, the two friends suddenly strangers. She was much calmer than Matt was, but her words still stung. "I never thought I'd see the day where you'd stoop this low, Rosanna." The petite brunette tried to reach out to the raven-haired girl, but Safiya brushed her off. "Don't even bother Rosanna, the damage's been done."

She stood up and went off to find Matpat.

~~~

"Holy fudge," Roi croaked as Rosanna ran off as well. "Should we go after them?" Manny inquired and Jc shook his head. "Give them space," the hippie responded. 

Joey shuffled through the stack, mulling over the cards. "Whoever wrote that, I'm disappointed in you," Colleen voiced. "What Ro did was wrong and absolutely damaging, but she should've told them on her own terms."

"Colleen, you know that none of us would even _think_ about crossing that line," Joey disputed.

"Oh, so is it the ghost in here that wrote it then? Joey, let this ghost thing go, we've got bigger problems. And don't you think we would notice if some ghost put cards in the stack?"

"That's- that's not what I was suggesting-"

Colleen crossed her arms and leaned back against the chair. "Liar."

"Guys, now's not the time to fight. Not when we've already got something brewing," Roi butted in and held out his hand to Joey. "Let me see those cards."

"But-"

"Now."

Joey handed them over and Roi rearranged the cards, perceiving that there was a bigger picture that they weren't seeing. He flipped over the first one, reading it audibly. "Manny, is true that you're in love with..." he trailed off, his eyes widening. It was in the same handwritting as the Rosanna one, but it was too messy for it to be any of his friends. Well, except for maybe himself but even Roi had neater handwriting than this.

It looked almost... demonic. "What? Finish the question," Joey said, detecting that Roi didn't mention who it was. Roi didn't answer, not wanting to say. Plus, there was another bit that he probably shouldn't expose. Manny went pallid and snatched that out of Roi's hands, ripping it to shreds.

The remainder of the group was flummoxed by his reaction. Only Nikita showed no reaction whatsoever, as if she already was aware of everything. Manny stared at Roi and answered the question without being specific. "Yeah, it's true," Manny admitted and the group gasped. "You... you..." Roi pointed a shaky finger at him. "No way..."

The daredevil looked at the next one and saw it was the same exact question that Manny had ripped up. As if nothing had happened. Roi looked at the floor, where the pieces had been left.

It was gone. "Uh guys...." he began and pointed at the floor. "The pieces are gone. And the same card's in my hand."

Their eyes traced to where he was pointing at. Manny rubbed his eyes. "Are we blind or something, how did we not notice that?" Nikita asked and there were a few confused murmurs. Even Nikita looked a little horror-struck.

"Is this some sick joke you're trying to pull on us, Joey?" Colleen accused and he immediately returned, "No! Stop blaming me for everything!"

"Let's stop, guys I don't like this," Teala said, looking angsty. The lights flickered again and the gang could hear the wind blowing harshly outside. They heard a loud slam coming from the window and sprang up.

"It's just the shades, don't worry about it," Joey assured them. "We should probably head home, figure out the situation tomorrow since..." He didn't need to finish for them to get the idea. Manny took the cards from Roi and read the card, frowning. "You'll have to tell them eventually you know," Nikita murmured and he bit back, "I'm taking this to the grave."

Then he saw another card with the same writing and read it.

_Teala, did you put hair dye in Cindy's drink so you'd get back at her for all the times she hurt you?_

Nikita saw it too and questioned, "Doesn't hair dye have piqberry? And isn't piqberry used in acidic cleaners?" Manny put the puzzle pieces together and gasped.

That's why Cindy's in the hospital. Teala poisoned her. Overhearing, Teala trembled. "Teala?" Nikita inquired gently. "Is is true?"

Not wanting confrontation, Teala ran for it. Jc trailed after her. "Teala wait! We just want an explanation, it doesn't mean we'll think less of you!" he shouted as she fumbled for the door. The wind was blowing more harshly than ever, making it almost impossible to run without fighting against the breeze. She shivered, a scared tear falling down her face.

Teala felt like she had no other choice. Was so blinded by revenge and wanted to be left alone. All she wanted was to make Cindy ill. Not practically kill her. It was a miracle she wasn't sitting in a jail cell right now. "Teala c'mon, get back inside, let's talk this out," Jc begged as she ran outside and was about to run down the steps.

Jc made it to the first step, intending to block her path. Time seemed to go in slow motion as she tried to comprehend what came next. As he reached for her, something blew him back, sending him flying backwards.

"JC!" she shrieked, trying to run towards him, but was sent flying back in the opposite direction by an invincible force. She felt like she couldn't breath, the air taken out of her lungs. Darkness enclosed her as she crashed onto the floor into the house, the last thing she saw as she fell unconscious was her friend getting impaled by spikes on the gate

]


	5. A Series of Unfortunate Events

**October 31st, 1978**

**8:13 pm**

~~~

The nice thing about houses that you've never been in was that there were a lot of places to cry and contemplate your life decisions.

All of a sudden the weather got even worse quickly... almost unnaturally quickly. Rosanna could've sworn it was raining outside.

The little baker had found an unoccupied corner upstairs while exploring, reflecting on her actions. She knew she was selfish and the worst friend ever. For holding her friends back.

She hadn't realized the consequences at the time, too afraid to lose her friends to the allure of the bigger, better cities. Not wanting to be left behind as they made new friends, slowly forgetting about the old ones. Including her.

It was scary, knowing that the trio would go their separate ways eventually, that was how life worked. And Rosanna wanted to hold onto them as long as she could. Growing up was a frightening thing. So she did that incredibly imbicilic and inconsiderate mistake.

Rosanna had tried to console her guilt by telling herself that without the faking of the letters, her friends wouldn't have gotten into the serious relationships that they did. Matt had been dating Stephanie at the time, but their courtship wasn't quite that serious yet. It would've been likely that they broke up because of long distance.

And Safiya and Tyler... well, they were acquaintances. In that stage of becoming friends, and eventually best friends. And the wonderful phase of coquetry and denial. But even then, it didn't fix anything.

They were offered _full-ride scholarships._ It was the opportunity of a lifetime, she knew that her friends had no desire of staying in Everlock forever. And with a letter, she crushed that.

She was snapped out of her stream of consciousness when she heard her friends screaming. All she could make out from the top of the stairs was the name 'Jc' and 'Teala' and she bolted up, dashing down the stairs.

_What's going on?_

Getting to the ground floor, she gasped, finding Jc outside, a wound on his chest. Teala was at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious. Safiya was nursing to the latter, checking her pulse.

Nikita ran down and out of the house, cursing when she realized that there was no way to call the ambulance, no one lived in this neighborhood and the nearest telephone booth was nearly half a mile away. And she had checked for a telephone, but there wasn't one.

Looks like they're going to have to take Jc to the hospital themselves somehow.

As Nikita brushed her bangs out of her face, she shouted, "Matt! Keys!" He looked up and tossed her the keys so she could start the car. Catching them, the troublemaker opened the gate and was about to cross the street to get to Matt's car.

Meanwhile, Matt was helping out with Jc, Manny elevating him, trying to find a way to staunch the wound, while carrying him inside, not wanting to be in the rain. The four outside were already drenched.

Joey, Roi and Colleen seemed to be looking for a first-aid kit in the house. While she stood shell-shocked at the scene laid out before her.

"Oh, what the hell did I miss?" Rosanna asked herself, planning to rush over to Matt, Manny and Jc to help.

Just then, a flash of lightning struck Matt's car, completely obliterating it. "NOT NICOLE!" Matt screeched and no one commented on how he named his car. "I STILL HAD BLUEBERRY IN THERE."

Blueberry was the dog that Rosanna had won the previous evening at the carnival that she had accidentally left in Matt's car.

And now Blueberry was dead because she neglected the stuffed animal.

This was a wonderful Halloween wasn't it?

On top of that, Rosanna heard a static sound coming from the living room. "D-do you guys hear t-that?" she squeaked and the trio that was on a quest to find a first-aid kit slowly turned towards the living room.

Manny and Matt had managed to get Jc inside. Teala was still dead to the world, but alive from the look on Safiya's face.

"Hear what?" Colleen asked as Rosanna creeped towards the sound source. As soon as she stepped foot in the living room, a piercing white noise rang through the house and they all cringed, covering their ears. The TV in the room (surprise, surprise there was a TV in here for some reason) turned on and the screen glitched between the black and white static screen and the strange goat man with the blue crystal. "3 rounds...48 hours...Do the dare or the dare does you," he growled before the screen went black and the noises stopped.

The rain seemed to lighten a bit too. Is Goat-Man related to Mother Nature or something, Rosanna thought.

Matt checked Jc's pulse and uttered profanities, saying in a grave voice, "His heart stopped."

Joey shakily took charge as Matt said those words. "Matt, CPR _now._ Nikita, start the van, we gotta get him to the hospital. Safiya and Roi, carry Teala to the car. Colleen and Rosanna, help out Matt if he needs it." They nodded solemnly before the panic settled in, all of them wondering what this would mean for their friends.

~~~

**Everlock Hospital**

**9 pm**

~~~

"WHERE THE IS HE? IS HE OKAY?" Chelsey demanded, running towards Joey, grabbing him by the shoulders. Joey, who looked scared for his life and what the wrath of Chelsey would bring, peeped, "Doctors are doing their best to save him, he should be okay..."

Chelsey turned to Matt, who was currently covered in blood. Then her brown eyes flicked to Joey's blue ones. "Don't sugarcoat... tell me the truth..." she demanded softly, tears brimming in her eyes. Matt and Joey exchanged gazes, not sure of which person should spill the beans to her.

"Matt..Joey..." she trailed off, anxiety increasing. "How is he?"

"Doctors are trying their best to save him," Matt began carefully and saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes, but it dimmed, knowing that there was bad news coming. "But by the time we got to here, he already lost so much blood, they don't think he's going to make it... I'm sorry Chelsey."

She didn't say a word, her face falling. Colleen had emerged from the hallway, arguing with a police officer. "I swear to you officer, I'm telling you the truth! Why would I fabricate a lie?"

He put a hand up to stop her. "Let's back up here: you're saying that your friend rented a house and invited you and eight other friends."

"Yes."

"And enigmatic things started happening after you played... Truth or Dare? Like the TV randomly turned on, the card that one of your friends ripped up and reappeared? And you're saying there's some sort of spirit haunting the house?"

"Mhmm." The officer blinked. "Are you sure it isn't some prank that the friend that threw this party pulled?"

"What, no! Joey would never do such a thing, he knows to not take it that far. Why do you think I'm lying?"

He peered at her thoughtfully. "With all due respect Ms. Ballinger, it just... doesn't add up. Are you currently on drugs or anything of that substance? I mean Ms. Ballinger, think about what you're telling me. Don't you think it's a little...hare-brained?"

"I'm all clear sir. Doctors even ran a test. " He seemed to believe her and she quarreled with the cop. Colleen was beyond drained after that, she was distraught out of her mind for Jc and Teala and all she wanted to do was go home knowing that everything was going to be okay.

"What do you think the police will do about this?" Joey inquired Matt, detecting that he was observing the interrogation. "Nothing. Like usual. They couldn't care less about us because all we are to them are some irresponsible college kids. Heck, they'd care more about a donut shop robbery than us."

"To be fair, donuts are delicious." The aspiring detective glared at him, as if he missed the point. "It's a hell lot more easier to think stupid college kids plus booze equals problem than believe that there's such things such as inexplicable evil like ghosts and spirits."

Chelsey sniffled, murmuring her like-mindedness. Joey didn't reply, knowing that Matt was right. The story _did_ sound absurd. They had no reason for anyone to believe them. Colleen, frustrated, stormed over to the two guys (and Chelsey), rubbing her temples.

"Worst Halloween ever," Colleen mumbled. "Agreed. We already know the Jc situation, but any updates on Teala?" Matt inquired and she answered, "No, doctors said she should be okay though. At most, she'll have a concussion. Nothing too severe."

Chelsey started biting her nails behind them, not saying a word. No doubt that a million questions were running through her mind. She wanted to hear how this occurred, how the hell Jc ended up here, but the others seemed to frantic to tell the story. She debated on pressing matters, but she chose to wait until this whole affair was settled.

All she could do now was pray that her boyfriend would stay alive and survive all of this.

~~~

Before long, Matt went back for the rest of the group and they all sat in the waiting room somberly. No one talked to each other, they hardly even looked at each other. Manny and Nikita occasionally exchanged discombobulated glances. Matt sat in a chair, back turned to Rosanna, who kept opening her mouth as if to say something, but then sagged her shoulders and ended up not saying anything.

On the chair on the other side of Matt, Roi tapped his foot on the floor rhythmically, hands folded on his knees almost in a prayerful way. Joey paced back and forth down the hallway, too anxious to sit still. Chelsey was sniffling quietly, Colleen rubbing her shoulder to comfort her. Safiya stood alone, as still as a statue. Her dark hair hung in her face, her arms folded across her chest.

The clacking of the keys coming from the receptionist and the constant boring commercials from the TV was driving Safiya insane. She wanted to know what was going on with her friend right then, not ten minutes, two hours or forty years later; Safiya wanted to know before her brain shut down and her hands did something to that keyboard her mind will regret later.

Minutes seemed like torturously long hours. There was no sign of a doctor coming there way, no sign of anyone giving them news. In Safiya's opinion, no news was worse than bad news. The doldrum wasn't broken by any of these eight friends, but rather, a certain fiancee and boyfriend.

"Chelsey called me earlier and told me you guys were here, what's going on?" Stephanie asked, who seemed to have been running from the sound of her panting. "Is everything okay?" She quickly scanned the waiting room and her face fell when she noticed the absence of Teala and Jc. "What happened? Where's Jc and Teala?"

No one had the heart to answer as Mike caught up to Stephanie. "Geez Stephanie, you're a fast runner. You couldn't have waited for me to properly park my car?" He fell silent when he saw the saturnine expressions. "Guys... you're scaring me. What's going on?" Stephanie questioned again.

The doctor had perfect timing and decided to come right then and there and the attention diverted away from Stephanie and Mike to the doctor. There wasn't the cold and distant smile on his face, like most professionals had plastered on their face 24/7. No. The thin, ginger-haired man was frowning. He pushed his spectacles up his nose and began gently, "Would you like the good news or bad news first?"

The gang immediately pivoted towards Joey to make the verdict. He gave the doctor a blank look, contemplating his options for a second. He finally picked, "Bad."

The ginger doctor took a deep breath, bracing for the impact his words would have. "Unfortunately, the surgery was unsuccessful and we were unable to save Mr. Caylen. I'm sorry to say that your friend is no longer with us."

"No," Joey breathed.

~~~

Chelsey didn't need to hear the rest, letting out a cry and falling to her knees. She didn't break quietly. No, it was like every atom of her being screamed in unison, traumatized that she should exist without him. When the wracking sobs passed she cried in such a desolate way that no one could bare to listen for long. They tried to comfort her, but she shoved them away.

The soothing words made no difference at all. Chelsey was beyond all reason, beyond all natural methods of calming. "NO!" She squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing, burying her face in her hands. "Tell me you're lying," she begged, resisting the urge to give herself the pinch of the century. This had to be a nightmare, a really, really horrific nightmare. When the doctor didn't answer she repeated, screaming, "TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!"

The doctor flinched and replied meekly, "I apologize miss... I'm afraid I'm not. I'm so sorry for your loss ma'am, Mr. Caylen must've been an important person to you."

She wanted to laugh and tell him that he had no idea, but she couldn't find the strength to say anything. Do anything. 

She barely noticed when the Everlock buddies wrapped their arms around her into a group hug, a ball of compounded grief. What was supposed to be a fun and spooky night turned out to be the worst night ever.

~~~

Matpat stared out the window, gazing glassily as the town passed by in a blur. They were driving by the university area of town, where there would be students milling about, three-story buildings with their lights on, buskers with open guitar cases for spare change and apartments all zig-zagging in a series of narrow streets. And now it was empty. Like a ghost town.

The more Matt thought about Jc, the more he felt like a failure. "Matt?" Stephanie called his name, concerned for him. He didn't answer, too ashamed to even look at her. Mournful of his friend, knowing that Jc's girlfriend no longer had a boyfriend. Jc's housemates had just lost a roommate and a best friend. Who didn't even know yet that their friend had been brutally murdered by a spirit haunting a house. When he had just been alive only a few hours ago, laughing and having fun with his familiars, not knowing that this was the night where it all ended.

A bright, blooming sunflower that had withered far, far too soon.

~~~

_"Where are you headed to?" Chelsey inquired, leaning on the kitchen counter. "Tell me you aren't going off contemplating if you should commit a felony or not."_

_Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow, board in the crook of his arm. "Do you really think that lowly of me?"_

_"You hang out with people like Roi, who's infamous for holding the record for Most Times One Has Nearly Died,' and Nikita, whose criminal record is at least mile long. Not to mention you've gotten into trouble a few times yourself."_

_"Okay first of all, I'm not THAT irresponsible. Second of all, Nikita does those things allegedly."_

_She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "'Allegedly'? Give me a break. But have fun."_

_He flashed her a smile. "You're welcome to come with me, you know. I'm sure Joey wouldn't mind if I brought you to the party."_

_"Nah, I'm good. Go hang out with your friends and be their problem."_

_Jc scoffed as she went to peck him on the lips quickly. "I''ll see you later, hippie."_

_"Bye. Love you."_

_Before she got the chance to say it back, he had already left._

~

As she leaned her head on the steering wheel, Chelsey gripped the wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. Softly splashing water droplets hit the car windows as we drive onwards. The skies are overhung with a blanket of grey, so much so that she can barely tell the difference between the sky and clouds.

She probably should head inside, but to be frank, Chelsey didn't have the strength to face her roommates. It was quiet uptown where Chelsey lived and usually the quiet bothered her, but it was almost consoling. 

Yesterday, her troubles felt so far away. And now it seemed they were here to stay, lingering like a shadow. All of a sudden, the brunette longed for yesterday. 

Not wanting to live with the unimaginable. She hadn't felt so squandered, like such a lost soul. \

_Jc's gone, Jc's gone, Jc's gone-_

Her stomach churned like it never had before, every repetition of the memory only pulling her into a more aggressive nausea. It was enough to make her feel pale and sweaty, enough to dizzy her.The interior of the vehicle felt suffocatingly small and widely distant at the same time.

As the tears came back, she whispered, "I love you too, Jc."

~~~

**November 1st, 1978**

**7:23 am**

~~~

Abnormally early the next morning for the day after Halloween, the Everlock buddies had gathered at the diner, occupying their customary spot, trying to not take notice of the empty chair that Jc typically dwelled on. 

All had drinks in front of them, but no one touched anything, too tense to bother. Even Rosanna didn't nag them about the stress of having breakfast, instead staring at her lap. They were all bedraggled, none had slept the night before nor had they bothered changing out of the previous day's outfit. 

Nikita had to fess up, even she had spent the night crying her eyes out. Nobody made a joke about it or commented on it, that the Nikita Dragun had _emotions._ It may be a disagreeable time to crack a joke, but at this point, she couldn't stand how her friends were practically ghosts right now. So she decided to cut the middleman. "What do we do now?" she asked softly. 

It was Safiya who answered with three simple words. "I don't know." The pseudo investigative reporter had been staring out the window, looking like she wanted to get the heck out of this place. But she hadn't bailed the diner.

Yet.

"I'm not sure what you want us to do after Jc literally _died,_ " Colleen spoke brusquely. "Talk about it? What is there to talk about? He died and it's our fault, we started that stupid game. Sure, it was Joey's idea, but we still agreed to it just to prove him wrong."

"Hey," Joey uttered, offended that he was being thrown under the bus. "Guys, let's not play the Blame Game, okay? Now is not the time to fight," Roi cut in before a cat fight would break out. Manny shifted in the seat next to Nikita and surprisingly, he had nothing to say. And Manny always had something to say.

"What do you have on your mind, Manny?" she queried and he didn't answer right away, gathering his ideas. "I just... can't stop thinking about the message we got from the TV."

Nikita's expression darkened as she was reminded of it, gripping onto the closest thing to her, which happened to be the undrunken cup of coffee. 

_3 rounds..._ _48 hours..._ _Do the dare or the dare does you._

"You don't think it's about the Truth or Dare game, do you?" 

She twirled a piece her platinum hair with her fingers. "I hope not." 

"Better not be hoping too hard then,"he replied dryly. "But we're not in the house anymore, it doesn't matter. Besides, Jc died and he did his damn dare. And his dare was literally written by me!" she retorted. 

"Maybe the spirit was aiming for Teala, but Jc got in the way." 

"So you're suggesting it was a mishap? This is a spirit Manny. A bloody _spirit_." 

Before Manny could squabble with his best friend any further, the waitress came over and asked if they wanted the bill and Joey promptly said yes, his desire to depart ways with the bunch was evident. Pending the arrival of the bill, everyone made an effort to make small talk amongst themselves, trying to act like nothing happened. 

Nikita heard bits and pieces, like Safiya and Matt talking about how the former planned to make a trip east to visit her boyfriend's sister and Nikita sympathized about that, knowing that Safiya was the one that took it the hardest out of the nine of them, Jc and Safiya were the closest to each other. Getting out of the town even for a little while was something that was much needed for all of them really. Matt quickly changed topics to a new theory that he had thought of and she listened inventively. 

Colleen and Roi were discussing the new movie, 'Halloween' but it was more than probable that neither had a fancy to go see it anymore. However, Teala had seen it and added her two cents about it without spoiling. While they seemed to be smiling, there was something lacking. Their conversations were usually so much more than words. It was the smiles, the gentle shrugs and the light in their eyes. That they all were both elevated by each other's presence and even the silences are comfortable. There were moments to savor the company of the others and feel that sense of peace that comes from feeling loved and protected, within the arms of friendship. That wasn't there at all today. 

On the other hand, Joey and Rosanna didn't chatter at all, which was a little uncharacteristic. The petite brunette was staring at the empty chair, while the blond wanna-be Fred drummed his fingers on the table, evading eye contact. 

Eventually the waitress came back with the bill and as she received it, Teala read it over, for it was her turn to pay. In effort to not waste, they eventually drank some of the black substance. Nearly instantaneously, Teala blanched and Colleen asked, "What's wrong honey?" 

Teala just set the bill down and the troublemaker picked it up, scanning it. In demonic-looking handwriting, she made out:

_ Did you really think this was all over? _

_ My friends, this is only the beginning, the truths and dares will only become bolder _

_ Take your friend's death as a warning for what the price of refusing to cooperate _

_ Being a coward is the one thing I cannot tolerate _

_ You will face your biggest fears and you will be punished for what you have done _

_ Be careful when completing the dares, you may be picked off one by one _

_ 3 rounds, 48 hours, you know how the story goes _

_ So you better think twice before saying no _

_ Your first dare goes to your very own aspiring super spy  _

_ Who poisoned a girl and when asked if she did it, she denied _

_ To pay for that here's what you have to do _

_ You bet you'll be sorry before we're through: _

_ You have theater friends, so you must recall Romeo's death  _

_ Find the Agatha Christie staple and you won't have to take your last breath. _

_ 35 minutes, disco dancer's house _

_ Good luck _

_-JOQ XNKYCPNT DNHJQK, YCXOWTNH_


End file.
